I'm not going to get into a big linkfest here -- I'll do you the courtesy of believing what you say is factually true, if you'll return the favour.

In the UK, it takes a court order from a Magistrate to place a child into *temporary* custody - it's called (IIRC) an Emergency Protection Order. It's usually used to get a child out of an immediately dangerous situation.

To permanently take the children away, perhaps for fostering, requires a court order from a Crown Court, which means barristers, which means a LOT of learned arguing by both sides.

There is no right to search, that I'm aware of.

The Children Act (1988?) makes it quite clear that the parents rights are entirely secondary to the safety of the child - and the social services operate on this principle. They have to, it's the law. But being understaffed, underbudgeted and overworked as they are (where's the profit margin?), mistakes are made, oversights occur. And children die - but they're the ones who slipped through the net, which I want to have somewhat smaller holes.