|
You are here: Families & Children > Juvenile Dependency (Abuse & Neglect) > Dependency Court: Information for Parents
Click on a topic below:
General Information
Can I "lose" my child?
Why is the court involved?
Do I need a lawyer?
Will anyone else have a lawyer?
What will happen at the first hearing?
Will I be able to see my child?
What happens if there's a trial?
What are the next steps?
What if the court makes a "permanent plan" for my child?
Important Things to Remember
General Information
If you and your child are involved in a juvenile dependency case, you must follow certain steps until your case is resolved.
The court will explain what you must do and the deadlines you must meet. The court will try to resolve your case as quickly as possible.
If your child becomes a "dependent of the court," the court will make orders for you, your child, and the social worker. The court makes these orders to protect your child. The court can order that:
- Your child live in your home under court supervision; or
- Your child live in a different home also under court supervision.
[ Top of Page ]
Can I "lose" my child?
If your child becomes a "dependent of the court" and the court does not order reunification services to help you get back together with your child, or reunification efforts fail, you can lose your child.
[ Top of Page ]
Why is the court involved?
The specific reasons are in the petition and other court papers you may have received. Read the petition carefully.
[ Top of Page ]
Do I need a lawyer?
You have the right to have a lawyer represent you in court. You are allowed to postpone your first court hearing for a short time so that you can get a lawyer.
If you can't afford a lawyer, ask the court to appoint one for you. If you have enough money, the court may ask you to pay the lawyer's fees.
[ Top of Page ]
Will anyone else have a lawyer?
The county may have a lawyer to speak for the social worker. The court can also give your child a lawyer. That lawyer's job is to represent your child's interest in court.
Sometimes, the court also appoints a volunteer "Court Appointed Special Advocate  " (also called "CASA ") to help your child.
[ Top of Page ]
What will happen at the first hearing?
If your child was taken away from you, the judge will decide at the first hearing if your child will be returned to you until the next court hearing.
Tell the social worker or your lawyer about any relatives the child can stay with until the next hearing (or longer). If the judge does not allow your child to be returned to you, it is usually better for the child to stay with relatives.
[ Top of Page ]
Will I be able to see my child?
In most cases, you can visit your child if the child is not returned to you.
[ Top of Page ]
What happens if there's a trial?
Here are the stages you need to understand:
The Right to a Trial
You have the right to a trial. At your trial, the judge will decide if the statements in the petition are true.
If you are going to have a trial, the judge will tell you the trial date at your first hearing.
If you admit to the court that all or some of the statements in the petition are true, or if you let the judge make a decision based on the reports given to the court, you will not have a trial.
A Report on Your Case
The social worker will make a report and give it to the court. The report will be based on the social worker's review of your case and conversations with you and other people. The report will recommend where your child should live for the next 6 months (until the next court hearing) and what you and others can do to help solve the problems that brought you and your child to court.
If the judge decides that the statements in the petition are true, the judge will probably make your child a "dependent child of the court." That means you will have only limited control over your child and your child may be taken from you.
The Case Plan
You and the social worker will make a case plan and present it to the court. The court will probably order that all or part of the case plan be carried out.
The case plan may include:
Parenting classes
Individual counseling
Family counseling
Alcohol or drug abuse treatment
Special programs and classes
Visits with your child
If your child is taken away from you and a case plan is ordered, the social worker must include in the case plan:
- Services to help you get back together with your child, or
- If you cannot get back together with your child, services that let your child be adopted or have a guardian.
If your child is taken from you and you decide you don't want to get back together ("reunify") with the child, talk to your social worker.
Also talk to your lawyer about your right to:
Say you don't want services that will help you to get back together;
Give up your parental rights; and
Help develop a permanent plan for your child.
[ Top of Page ]
What are the next steps?
The social worker and others must help you get the services listed in your case plan. Start on your case plan as soon as possible. You must follow the case plan and meet your deadlines if you want to get back together with your child.
The court will review your case at least once every 6 months. At your first review hearing, the judge may decide if your child can return to your home.
If your child was under 3 years old when he or she was taken from you and you have not participated regularly in the treatment ordered in your case plan, or if you have not talked with, written to, or visited your child during the 6 months, the court can end services that help you get back together with that child.
If your child was over 3 years old and is not returned to you after 6 months, the court can order services for 6 more months.
Services to "reunify" you with your child will end in 12 months unless the court decides your child can probably get back together with you within 18 months from the time the police officer or social worker took your child away.
If the court ends services to "reunify" you with your child, there will be a hearing to make a "permanent plan" for the child to live with someone else.
| ALERT! If you want the court to let your child return to your care, you must follow court orders and meet deadlines. If the court orders a hearing for a "permanent plan," you will not get your child back. The court will consider adoption or a guardian for your child. Neither the social |
[ Top of Page ]
What if the court makes a "permanent plan" for my child?
If the court decides that your child will not be returned to you, there will be a hearing within 4 months about what should happen to your child-a "permanent plan."
At that hearing, the court has only 3 choices, listed in the order that the court considers them:
- End your parental rights and order the child placed for adoption (this means that legally you are no longer the child's parent);
- Appoint a legal guardian for your child; or
- Place your child in long-term foster care.
If the plan is for adoption, you, the adoptive parents, and the child can agree that you may have contact with your child after the adoption.
If that possibility interests you, ask your lawyer to explain the "post-adoption contract."
[ Top of Page ]
Important Things to Remember
The social worker can explain how the process works. But the social worker can't give you legal advice. If you have questions, ask your lawyer or the judge.
You must tell the court and the social worker where to mail you documents about your child. If you change your mailing address, you must tell your social worker immediately.
[ Top of Page ]
<< back
Last modified: 08/05/2008
About Us | Web Site Feedback
Web Policies | Public Access to Records | Accessibility
|
