HELP FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN 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. ASFA 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. ASFA 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? Don?t let a Social Wokrer 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Keep Calm?& 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 happened?that lead to them being taken. Determine what evidence you have?or 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 against you to keep your children. Detention hearingWithin 72 hours (weekdays) there must be a Detention Hearing at the Juvenile Dependency Division of your local county court. This?THE most important point in your case as it is the first chance you have to show the lies and mistakes in the?Social Worker's?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.? 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 contested 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?Social Worker?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. Most importantly, this includes the Court of Appeals. You must object to?every lie?in any hearing, even if your attorney does not. Remember that if you lose the detention hearing they will keep your children and place them in a foster/adopt home if a baby or a shelter or foster home if older. They will divide the siblings (brothers and sisters) in different homes to make it more easy to adopt out later because?they are?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!! 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. You will be appointed an appallet attorney for this stage. 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. 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. Jurisdiction?Trial At the jurisdictionyou 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. Disposition hearingAfter 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.