Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

6 years ago my wife & I were adopted a 10 year old girl. From then up until 2 weeks ago was filled with so much chaos, turmoil & destruction from this child, I won't bore you with the nightmares & tough times that me & my wife have been through. Two weeks ago on her 16th birthday she decided to run away from home with every intention on never coming back. She's been in care & custody of DFPS at a group home in Fort Worth Texas were we have not even been able to speak to her on the phone nor actually see her (not that I would want to at this point). So we searched & searched and found a family attorney who we "felt" would help us ($2,000 retainer fee + $1,000 one week later). I spent almost every second of everyday doing sooo much research regarding CPS, their crooked tricks & what to expect at the hearing. Today, my wife & I had the "Show Cause Hearing". All I can say is...I felt we got our @$$es handed to us. Like a High School Football team playing the New England Patriots - Just whipped.

After prepping with the attorney for the past 2 weeks, we really felt that we had a great chance on getting her the help that she needs and being able to get her back into our home. Only to show up and be shown a 2 page letter that appeared to have been written by a college English Professor and not that of a 16 year old who struggles in English & Writing. I could tell immediately that she had either been coached into writing it OR it was written for her & she copied it with the best penmanship that this child has ever displayed in her whole life. Nevertheless, I accepted it for what it was. Basically it stated that she was a lesbian & didn't want to come home because our family does not agree with homosexuality.

The judge took her written letter (so totally obvious to the ones who know her that the letter was not written by her alone) and ruled in the best interest of the child, DFPS is appointed TMC (Temporary Managing Conservator), giving us "limited access to and possession of the child", requiring that we pay DFPS child support & continue paying her medical insurance and bills.

I�ll state it now, I absolutely will not �have limited access� to our daughter AND be forced to pay DFPS ANY child support whatsoever, especially after the judge uses that letter as the deciding factor. I feel that the moment he decided to go that route, was the moment that she could make �big girl/adult� decisions without the need of having her parents/adopted parents.

Now after that long story, of which I didn�t even talk about the 6 years she lived with us. After spending some time (very hurtful time) my wife and I feel that it would be �in her best interest� as well as ours, that we do the following:

1.) we want her last name changed back to the name that she had BEFORE we adopted her

2.) "Voluntarily Terminate Our Parental Rights" - she stated in her letter that she didn't look at us as her "real family" even though she has called us Mom & Dad since the day we adopted her

3.) stop paying the $200/month for her braces

4.) remove her from our medical insurance which is costing us over $400/month

I�m sure this may sound like we are being �petty� and maybe we are but I also left out 6 years of living with hurricane & a tornado and I also didn�t go into the hurtful, disrespectful & ungrateful things that she said in her letter either. She thinks that she�s going to have this �perfect/wonderful� life living at this Group/Foster home but the state hasn't told her what happens when she turns 18 & is still a Junior in High School, which is they will remove her from the Group/Foster home and place her in a homeless shelter.

My question is, 1.) What are the chances of accomplishing the 4 things listed above? I listed them in order of importance, #1 being the most important. 2.) Can DFPS force us to pay child support to them when they considered her an adult and allowed her to decide where to live? I know, yes we did drop some coin on an attorney to handle these types of questions, it�s just that after feeling like we got kicked in the teeth today, my confidence with him is not so great. I am at the point where I�m really contemplating on dropping him like 3rd period French and getting a new attorney. Money now means nothing to me when you think about the amount of money that DFPS will drain from us in just 2 years.


Asked on 12/16/16, 10:21 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mark Dunn Mark D. Dunn

The first thing you should know is that the CPS Nazis usually win in Court. You won't find this in the Family Code, but when you walk into the Courtroom and you're up against the CPS, they pretty much tell the Judge what they want, and they get it.

I once beat the CPS in Rockwall County. My client was very happy about it, but she ended up paying me over $10,000.00, and my file is 13 inches thick.

Your situation is interesting: the CPS folks have taken your daughter away from you, based on a finding that you are bad parents and that it's best for her not to live with you. In other words, they are helping you make your case for termination of your parental rights.

The problem with a suit for voluntary termination of parental rights is that CPS will always come back and say: Hey Judge, these people just want to get out of paying their child support.

That being said, I actually did a voluntary termination case, and won. We tried it to a jury (not the Judge).

You'll need a good lawyer. Be prepared to pay a large retainer up front. The operant section of the Family Code is chapter 161.

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Answered on 12/23/16, 10:48 am


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