Legal Question in Juvenile Dependency in California
Any recourse regarding CPS?
The facts: Spouse beat me in front of 4 yr old child.
Incident reported to authorities, no written statement submitted by me. Authorities referred incident to Family Svc. They reported it to CPS since my daughter witnessed it. Contact made with CPS, CPS informed me part of their job included removing children from the home. I felt threatened and scared and told them so. Felt as if I was being victimized again. Asked if I could have her make arrangements with my spouse, CPS agreed. My spouse and CPS played phone tag and deemed us "un-coooperative". During our voluntary meeting w/CPS, they removed my child and placed her in foster care(returned 12 hrs later). At first their reason was because my spouse was a threat to my daughter, then their reason changed; said they questioned my mental status. Finally, the written form stated that child was removed cuz they couldn't complete initial investigation in 6 hrs even though office had case over 2 wks, wkr only had case for 4 hrs. Child traumatized. We have since discovered that they may have broken a policy/law. Also, I am on the child abuse list. What law did I break? I thought I was the victim. I am very passionate about this. Where do I go? What can I do? Pls advise.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Any recourse regarding CPS?
It sounds as if you and your spouse remained together. That could have been viewed as posing an emotional risk to your daughter.
The law is heavily weighted in favor of protecting children. Please advise what law or policy you feel was violated.
You are not "on the child abuse list." You might be if you were criminally convicted of, say, physically abusing your child. The local CPS will most likely keep a file notation of the incident, but that information is local and stays with the county CPS. It would be resurrected in the event of another referral to CPS.
Your initial statement leaves out considerable detail. Such as whether you and your spouse are still co-habiting, whether you are both doing couples counseling and/or domestic viiolence counseling.
An intelligent discussion requires additional informaition.
Very truly yours,
D. G. Rooney
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