Legal Question in Family Law in Missouri

Foster/Adopted female

Son's in-laws parants adopted a brother & sister, when they were young. They are teen-agers now, the father died and the mother has MS. She is verbally hateful with the kids, she probably doesn't feel good and that might be why she is so hateful to the kids. My son built a house with his wife (the daughter of the mother with MS) about a 1/8 of a mile from them. His wife checks in on her mother daily and my son tries to keep the boy, who is 14 busy with outside chores, feeding calves, etc. The other child, a girl, is 13, she has been caught lying, stealing, etc. She hates my son's mother in law and finally ran away about 3 weeks ago. DFS asked my son and his wife if they would take her and they said ''no'' they couldn't handle her. The girl wrote a note to her new Foster mother that they put her with (along with some other foster girls in the home) and said that her brother had touched her and that my son had touched her on her stomach. My son has never, ever been alone with her, her mother or his wife are always with her, she has been in their house twice, Thanksgiving & to look at it after it was built. She has learned from one her foster friends that to use these accusations then she won't have to go back home. Advise?


Asked on 5/01/07, 1:20 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Penny Umstattd-Cope The Umstattd-Cope Law Firm, LLC

Re: Foster/Adopted female

First, have your son not talk to anyone without an attorney present. I hate to say this but it seems that the investigators of alleged crimes like this can twist words around, make people say things they really didn't mean, etc. Most mistakes in criminal cases are made in the beginning when a person does not have an attorney to represent them. You want your son to have a criminal attorney with him whenever he answers any questions (if the attorney thinks he should). Hopefully with direction from an attorney the investigators will see through the allegations for what they are. It could take a couple of months before the investigators submit their reports and charge or clear your son. Your son should expect to pay between $1000 - 10,000 for the case, depending on how far it proceeds. Good luck to him.

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Answered on 5/01/07, 1:28 pm


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