WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU SUSPECT THAT SOCIAL
SERVICES MAY WANT TO TAKE YOUR CHILD?
Why is this going on?
The Child Abuse
Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), CAPTA was developed and passed to deal
with child abuse and is sometimes called the Mondale Act. The publicity of
child abuse in 1974 resulted in the passing of CAPTA and this was justly passed
to protect children. This protection was to extend to all children but since
the rich have abilities to protect themselves legally, the majority of children
taken are from low-income parents who can ill afford a lawyer. Only half of the
children taken ever get home even though the law is clear that the primary goal
is to keep children in the home with support services. The ASFA was enacted in
1997/8 to deal with a problem created by CAPTA. Where do all of these children
go? The babies taken are easily placed in foster homes or adopted but the teens
languish in foster care until they are released. The Adoption and Safe Families
Act (ASFA) created a situation in which the states and counties are paid to
take children from defenseless families such as low-income families.
AFSA started a bonus program for placing
a child in adoption to cut down on teens stuck in foster care. The bonuses are
from four to six thousand dollars for each child adopted over a quota set,
which is based upon the number of children who were adopted before the Act went
into effect. Once this bonus was established, the number of babies adopted
doubled even though it was set up to help teens. AFSA also decreased the time
to reunify with children under the age of four years to 18 months. Now many
families get the older children home and lose their babies to adoption, putting
money into the general funds of counties or states to use for what ever they
want.
How do you help your child before department of social
services (DSS) takes them for the bonus?
1. Don’t let the
DSS into your home unless they have a warrant and you have verified that it is
in their hand. Stand outside your front
door and read it before you let them in.
2. If you suspect
that they might take your child, then you must act fast. Generally when a child
is taken, they are immediately assigned an attorney from that county called a
District Attorney (DA). Once a child has a DA assigned, the likelihood that you
will get custody back is slim as the DA listens generally to the DSS and not
the parent. Even if the allegations are false, DSS will have the most influence
and the DA will listen to the DSS and not you.
3. The best way to
protect your family is to have a relative immediately hire or retain a attorney
to represent your child which is not usually too costly at this phase, about
$500 to 1500. Your child needs the attorney more than you need an attorney. An
attorney retained to represent a parent generally costs $5,000 and up.
4. It is better
that you be assigned a public defender than to have your child represented by
DA. The DA is supposed to represent the best interest of your child under the
law but remember they only listen to the DSS.
5. Make sure your
child’s private attorney is present at all meetings with the DSS.
Next, What happens if they take
your children?
The DSS has taken your children.
1. Calm down & get your evidence
prepared. You must pull
yourself together in the best interest of your child. If you really did harm
your child, then your children are being protected from you. If you are falsely
accused, you need to start thinking of what happed to lead to them being taken
and what evidence you have and proof that they were taken by mistake or due to
lies of others. Do not tell the DSS your family's life history, as anything you
say will be used to keep your children.
2. Detention
hearing Within 72 hours (weekdays) there must be a Detention Hearing
at the Juvenile Dependency Division of your local county court. This is one of
the most important points in your case as it is the first chance you have to
show the lies and mistakes in the DSS report. At the detention hearing, you will
either have an attorney, be assigned a public defender or represent yourself
(not recommended). When you arrive at the court, there will be a detention
report and you must get a copy and read it carefully. This report will
generally contain many lies, mistakes and some truth. You must sort this out
and separate the lies from the truth so that you can defend yourself as even if
you have a attorney, they will not know the situation as well as you do. (We
are not here to help child molesters and abusers.) You should always ask for a
hearing or trial at the detention hearing, as this is your right. Your attorney
will generally recommend against this but if you submit, remember that all
false allegations, mistakes and lies will then become the truth even if the DSS
or your attorney tells you otherwise. You have the right to present evidence of
the lies and call witnesses in the hearing/trial to prove your being falsely
accused. If you do not object to the lies, the judge will accept them as true, and
so will every judge and social worker who ever deals with your case. You must
object to the lies in any hearing even if your attorney does not. Remember that
if you lose the detention hearing that they will keep your children and place
them in a foster/adopt home if a baby or a shelter or foster home if older and
will divide the siblings (brothers and sisters) in different homes to make it
more easy to adopt out later by breaking up their relationships. You will
generally get an hour per week visit in a supervised home. Make sure you tell
the court if you have relatives to place the children with, as this will
increase your chance to get the children home. ALWAYS OBJECT TO LIES IN THE
COURT!!
3. If
you lose, you can appeal. If you have
objected to the lies, you then have a basis to appeal the court's decision if
you don’t get your children home at this point. If you did not object, you
don’t have a basis for an appeal. Appeals take many months.
4.
Re-unification or de-unification? When the DSS
does their job, they will start giving you classes to take before your next
hearing called the Jurisdiction and Disposition Hearing which is supposed to
occur within 90 days of detention but generally is delayed. The time is used to
investigate the allegations made against you. It is also supposed to be used to
allow you time to take classes such as parenting or domestic violence. You will
also get your weekly visit to see your child. If you did not have a detention
trial to fix the lies, you now have to wait months to possibly get your
children back. Some social workers see
their job’s purpose as being to break up families, and they will take this time
period to write down bad things about you and will distort what you say and do,
Try to bring a witness with you any time you talk to the social worker and if
they object, you know they are out to get you. The DSS will talk to family
members and neighbors or friends they find to gather as much negative
information as they can to build their case against you. A very few parents and
children do get honest social workers but you will not know this until the next
hearing report is issued.
5. Jurisdiction
hearing WIN If you win the jurisdictional hearing, that's
the end of your case. You take your
children and go home. But you have to
be sure to clear up whatever problem brought you to the authorities'
attention---drug use, domestic violence, etc.
You must make sure it never occurs again. Never submit to a jurisdiction
hearing. Always ask for a evidentiary trial to present the truth. If you submit
you will automatically submit to the lies or mistakes in the reports and lose
your ability to appeal any adverse decision.
6.
Jurisdiction hearing At the
jurisdiction you must ask for a trial (to present your reasons and arguments
for a reunification plan) as the DSS will have had time to prepare a strong
case to return or not return your children to you. The DSS may ask the court to
order that you have a psychological evaluation before the jurisdictional
hearing, which is not proper. A psychological evaluation is supposed to be used
to determine what are the best services to provide to you and your children to
best reunify the family only after the jurisdiction has been declared over your
children. In reality, the DSS generally uses this to say your unable to reunify
with your children due to mental instability and generally recommends that your
reunification services be ended. NEVER ALLOW A PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION TO BE
DONE PRIOR TO A JURISDICTION HEARING. Remember the psychologists work for the
county or DSS as a contractor and if they do not find what the DSS wants they
will not be a contractor for very long. Obtain and review all reports and make
sure you respond quickly to the allegations in writing. You know your situation
better than anyone. The only way the DSS can get information is from you or the
family and friends they find or you identify. Be careful what you say as it
can and will be used against you. DSS will also obtain all school records
and if you have problems they will find this out. DON’T BE ADVERSARIAL, DON’T
LIE AND DON’T GIVE UP THE STORE. If you are asked to take classes and do
things, do it and arrange it quickly as this shows to the judge that you want
your children home where they belong.
7.
Disposition hearing After the Jurisdictional hearing and/or
trial the next step is the Dispositional hearing and/or trial. This is the
point where your child has become a ward of the court, and the judge now
decides what to do with your child. The
DSS tells you what their plan is and it will be more services with
reunification, long term foster care or adoption of your children. If you have
objected to all of the lies and have presented evidence to prove your position,
you may get your children back within six months or less. Your next chance to
appeal the court's decisions is after the DSS has obtained Disposition over
your children. You only have 60 days in which to file an appeal after each
court decision and you should always do this as after that time you lose your
right to appeal any court order which is based upon mistakes or lies (if you
objected to the mistakes or lies).
THIS IS A BREIF OUTLINE TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT IS
HAPPENING AND IS BY NO MEANS LEGAL ADVICE. DO WHAT YOU THINK BEST FOR YOU AND
YOUR FAMILY.