Can A Family Attorney Get Kids Back From CPS? – Part III

So, CPS has decided you’re a horrible parent, and despite all of your efforts, you ended up getting served papers: they’ve got a court date, and they’re suing for custody. It’s all on the line now — this is your last-ditch effort to keep your children, so put everything on hold and pour your life into this battle until it’s decided.

The Trial
The first and most important thing you can do when you’re served papers that say a CPS-related court date has been set is hire a family lawyer. Preferably one with experience fighting CPS.

While we have no desire to impugn court-appointed attorneys — they universally take those positions because they care deeply about justice and representing the marginalized — they are often overworked. And no matter how profound their motivations, the financial incentives in front of them are a bit counterproductive. They get paid a flat fee per case no matter how much effort they put into defending you. They make more money by processing more cases, so they have literally no financial incentive to put special effort into your case.

If you absolutely cannot afford a lawyer, you will have to be extremely proactive if you want to win your case. That means you tell the lawyer what happens next — not the other way around — so you have to build a defense. Start by writing a series of letters.

• The first letter, to your attorney, should politely inform them that you are their client, and that you are going to insist that they come to court prepared to offer a solid defense, because you are not going to plead to anything that will result in the breakup of your family, because you are innocent and you love your children. Ask them specifically for advice in producing the legal documents you need to defend yourself. (They are probably overworked and unwilling to take the time to create these documents themselves, but they will often be willing to explain to you what you need and where to look up information on how to put those documents together.)
• The second letter, to the judge, should be a Declaration of Facts. This letter tells the judge exactly what happened and when. You don’t need to provide evidence in your letter; all you need to do is write a list of things you know. Keep each fact brief and easy to understand, and write each fact on a separate line, numbered, but include every fact that is relevant to your innocence, to the misbehavior of the CPS agents involved in your case, and to the circumstances behind both the incident that you are accused of and the CPS’ taking of your children and investigation. Send a copy to CPS, and to your lawyer, as well. With the copy you send to CPS, include copies of any evidence you have, including signed statements from eyewitnesses that you intend to have testify.
• The third letter, to your family members and friends, explaining to them what is going on and telling them that you’re fighting as hard as you can to keep your family together. But just in case the judge rules against you, you’re going to need a list of friends and (preferably) family members who are willing to take care of your kids for a while. CPS is legally obligated to attempt to house your children with other family members if any are available, so this is your best ‘insurance policy’ in terms of at least being able to keep track of your kids and how they’re doing. Send a copy to CPS as well, so they know that you’re aware of their obligation to seek out family and friends first.
• The fourth letter, to your children, assuring them that you’re doing everything in your power to get them back. Put your heart and soul on paper for them. Don’t hold anything back. And send a copy of this to CPS and the judge as well.

Then, get an independent doctor to examine your children and write a statement to the court regarding the likelihood of abuse or neglect given their physical condition. Read every page in the Michigan Child Protective Services Manual, and look for anything that happened in your case that varies from the procedures inside. Familiarize yourself with the most recent Michigan Child Welfare Needs Assessment Report, and look for anything that happened in your case that sounds like it could be a problem related to the Needs Assessment. Winning at this point is going to be hard, because if CPS didn’t have some decent evidence, they wouldn’t have gotten a court date — so at this point, it’s not enough to prove that you’ve done everything right. You have to prove that CPS did something wrong. Good luck!