Crl\ 1~oo.s'q M\ \q~q CS- Child Protective Services: Know Your Legal Rights A Guide for Parents of Children in DFCS Custody If you are a parent or guardian whose child has been removed from your home by the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS), this brochure explains your rights wlder the law. RECElVEO FEB 142000 Documents "~I\ I IRRARI!="C When Your Child Is Removed from Your Home Why was your child removed? Your child (or children) may have been removed because DFCS fOlUld a reason to believe that your child is deprived. (Deprivation usually means that a child does not have the appropriate parental care or control as required by law, or other care or control necessary for his physical, mental, or emotional health or morals. This definition is based on the needs of the child as opposed to some sort of fault 011 the part of his or her parents). Or, your child may also have been removed if a police officer or DFCS caseworker has detennined that your child was sick or hwt or in immediate danger from his or her surrOlUldings and needed to be removed. What happens after removal? After removal, your child will go before a court intake officer. If your child is in need of immediate medical attention, he or she may be taken to a hospital first. TIle intake officer will begin an investigation to detennine whether your child's removal was necessary. When can DFCS keep your child? DFCS can only keep your child if: I. It is necessary to protect the child OR 2. TIle child may nm away or be removed from the court's jurisdi cti on OR .3. The child has no parent or guardian to provide for him or her OR 4. TIle court has ordered it. If the judge or the intake officer feels that shelter care is not needed, and this is not one of the situations when OFCS can keep your child, your child will be released to you. You should know that OFCS can still pursue a deprivation action against you by filing a fonnal petition with the court within 30 days of your child's release. Ifit is found that your child's removal was necessary, then your child will be held by OFCS until an infomlal detention hearing can take place. This healing must be held within 72 hours, not including weekends and holidays. DUling this time, OFCS can put your child in a foster home licensed by the state, the home of a noncustodial parent or relative, a facility operated by a licensed child welfare agency, or a shelter care facility operated by juvenile COUlt. The 72-Hour Informal Detention Hearing TIle 72-hour hearing takes place III front of a juvenile court judge. The judge will decide if the evidence shows that your child is deplivedand needed to be removed from your home. You have several rights in this hearing that must be provided to you lmder the law: I. TIle court must provide you with reasonable notice of the time, place, and purpose of this hearing. 2. In addition, you have the right to be represented by an attorney if you so choose. If you are lmable to hire an attorney because of a financial If the judge or the intake officer feels that shelter care is not needed, and this is not one of the situations when DFCS can keep your child, your child will be released to you. You should know that DFCS can still pursue a deprivation action against you by filing a fomlal petition with the court within 30 days of your child's release. Ifit is fOWld that your child's removal was necessary, then your child will be held by DFCS Wltil an infomlal detention hearing can take place. This heating must be held within 72 hours, not including weekends and holidays. Duting this time, DFCS can put your child in a foster home licensed by the state, the home of a noncustodial parent or relative, a facility operated by a licensed child welfare agency, or a shelter care facility operated by juvenile COUlt. The 72-Hour Informal Detention Hearing 111e 72-hour hearing takes place ttl front of a juvenile court judge. ll1e judge will decide if the evidence shows that your child is deplivedand needed to be removed from your home. You have several rights in this hearing that must be provided to you tmder the law: I. ll1e court must provide you with reasonable notice of the time, place, and purpose of this hearing. 2. In addition, you have the right to be represented by an attomey if you so choose. If you are tmable to hire an attomey because of a financial hardship, the court will provide you with an attorney. You should ask for an attorney if you need one. If the judge does not find evidence that your child is deprived, your child will be released to your care and the complaint win be dropped. If evidence is fOlmd, DFCS will keep temporary legal custody of your child while a fornlal deprivation petition is filed.' The petition must be file within 5 days. The next step is an adjudicatory hearing. The Adjudicatory Hearing If your child is in DFCS custody, the court must schedule the adjudicatory hearing within 10 days of the filing of a deprivation petition. If your child was released by the intake officer or the judge at the 72-hour infonnal detention hearing, but DFCS still files a fonnal deprivation petition, the court must schedule the hearing within 60 days of the filing of the deptivation petition. TIle adjudicatory hearing is a trial to find out if the claims made in the deprivation petition are true. If the judge finds that they are not true, then the deprivation petition will be dropped and your child will be released to you. If the judge finds that they are true, your child will be found deprived under the law. This finding must be based on clear and convincing evidence that your child is deprived. Just like at the 72-hour hearing, you are entitled to an appointed attorney if you cannot afford one, and proper notice ofthe proceedings through a summon. A copy of the deprivation petition should be attached to the summons so that you can read and wlderstand the specific reasons given by DFCS for your child's removal. These papers can be served on you personally within 24 hours ofthe hearing If you cannot be found, these papers can be mailed to you at your last known address within 5 days of the hearing, or these papers can be served on you by printing notice of them in a local newspaper. The hearing will be held five days after the date ofthe last publication During this hearing, you have the right to present evidence and witnesses, as well as cross-examine or ask questions of witnesses called to the stand by DFCS. The adjudicatory hearing will take place in front of a judge, not a jury Members of the public will not be allowed in, unless they are going to testify as witnesses. TIlis is to protect the privacy of you and your child. The Dispositional Hearing After a judge finds that a child is deprived, a dispositional hearing will take place. TIlis hearing can be held immediately after the adjudicatory hearing or on another day. In deciding how best to care for your child, the COUIt can pick from several options. The court may: I. Let your child stay in your home with certain conditions and OI'er limitations on your behavior and with DFCS supervision; 2. Transfer tempormy legal custody of your child to any individual (including relatives ornoncustodial parent) who is qualified to receive and care for the child, or a licensed agency or other pri vate organization, or any public agency (DFCS). The COUlt can also order you and your child to participate in cOlUlseling. An order placing temporary legal custody with DFCS or some other agency or individual can last up to 12 months. All other orders issued by the judge in the dispositional hearing can last up to two years. If at the end of thi s period, DFCS feels you have not followed the case plan (described in the next section), DFCS can file a motion to extend its temporary custody of YOllr child for one more year. The Case Plan Within 30 days following the dispositional order, DFCS and the parents must work out a case plan. The case plan tells the court how DFCS and the parent(s) hope to fix the problem that caused the child to be deprived. Often this will include a plan to relUlite you with your child and a list of things you must do to regain custody of your child. DFCS must meet with you to decide on the contents of the case plan before it is given to the court for approval. To fix the problems that caused your child to be deprived, you need to be very involved in the writing of the case plan to make sure that the plan is realistic and helpful. You should agree to the plan only if you intend to follow it. Failure follow your case plan can be used as a reason to take your child away pennanently. (See the next section) The case plan is an opportunity to ask for help if you need it. If you disagree with any of the recommendations, you can tell the juvenile court judge about it during a hearing. Sometimes DFCS will decide that it is in the child's best interest not to be returned to your care. If the DFCS decisions is not to return your child, you have a right to a hearing with a judge. DUling the hearing, you will once again I have the right to proper notice of the proceedings as well as an attorney to represent you. Termination of Parental Rights In extreme cases, or in cases where little progress is made toward meeting the needs of the child, DFCS may file a motion to ternlinate parental rights. A hearing will take place in front of a juvenile court judge. A parent will have the right to be represented by an attorney, as well as advance notice of the time, place, and purpose of the hearing. In a tenllination hearing, the parent can call witnesses and ask questions of witnesses called by DFCS. If the judge decides to ternlinate parental rights, this will permanently end all rights to the care and control of the child. The judge's order must be based on a finding of parental misconduct or inability, that a parent failed to comply with a case plan or with a child support order for more than a year, or that the child was abandoned. n1e court must also find that ending parental rights is in the best interest of the child. After parental rights are temlinated, the court and DrCS should first try to place the child with a relative. If this cannot be done, DrCS will try to find another family to adopt the child, but the child could be placed in temporary or long-tenn foster care until he right pennanent placement can be fOlmd. j'rod/lced by: (;eOlxifl 8/1pre/l/(' ( '01111 ('hild {'Iflce/llelll l'miecI (Jf1ice ole 'o/llllli.niollS fllld j'ro}!./Y/I/ls 1';'; WIIshill}!.lo/l Slreet, S/lile 57] ,lllfllllfI, C;eor}!.ill JOJJ'; U'u)r.stlife.~lI.Il.\"C:OllI1'.\'u/1l'eme