CPS has their own Judges?

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RhondaShawn
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Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:01 am

CPS has their own Judges?

Postby RhondaShawn » Mon Aug 25, 2008 10:48 am

I have never heard of this before, but, does CPS have their OWN Judges? I am in Walla Walla Washington, Walla Walla County. CPS here has their own court room and Judge. He is based out of either Spokane or Seattle. But is there such a thing? My friend was tried and proven guilty of neglect in this court room by this Judge. Is there ANY way to find out without calling CPS? I wouldn't want to call them; they would tell me yes anyway. What does anyone know about this kind of court system?

Momoffor
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Postby Momoffor » Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:36 am

is this for an administrative appeal hearing?

If so, the answer is kinda. Depending on what the state has set up.

In VA, there are hearing officers that are actually social workers put into a 'judge' role. They hear the case and decide if the findings stick or not. There are 3 steps to the appeal process in VA. Once the investigator makes the findings, you appeal. this appeal is hear by a co-worker of the investigator and attended by the parents (lawyers in any) the investogator and the co-worker of the investigator its called a local appeal. After that comes the state level appeal. Where a social worker from the state comes and holds the hearing which is attended by the parents, lawyers if any, and the investogator. After that comes the court appeal hearing where an actual judge and court hears the appeal, but most likely always sides with the state level findings, wont allow new evidence ect.

Best to look up the statues in your state. Hope that helps. Best thing to keep in mind is to APPEAL.

Socialworker
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Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2008 2:50 pm

Postby Socialworker » Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:08 pm

A lot of counties have family court judges. Depending on how small the county is, there may only be 1 judge. That doesn't necessarily mean they're "CPS judges" but it does mean that they know all the CPS players pretty well. I would appeal, if possible, I'd try and get your case moved to another county. That would be very hard though, because you have to prove that the judge is biased or unfit in someway.

MaggieC

Postby MaggieC » Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:02 am

An appeal is not taken out of the county necessarily. An appeal is taken to a higher court.

Most of this cases are wrong on appeal.

The reason is that the judges i nthe higher courts actually adhere to the law. Many lower courts do not.

You can not introduce any new issues in an appeal. What you are appealign is that the lower court judge made an error on the basis of law.

RhondaShawn
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Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:01 am

Thanks

Postby RhondaShawn » Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:41 am

Thank you for the replies...
Momoffor: That just doesn't seem right at all, that they have CPS social workers acting as judges. Gosh. I have never heard of this kind of thing, even when I had my own case open. My friend saw this one judge one time. Then all the other court hearings have been in the court house. The Grandma is actually at my home right now. She said that she does not know what type of hearing that is was. All she knows is that this was the first hearing that the courts had put on the docket since the boys were taken from their mom.

Isnt there supposed to be a hearing when a child is removed from the parent's care??? I just learned that the momma had custody (at the time) when she was in front of that CPS judge. They removed the children at a later time. When they were finally removed, she did NOT have a hearing for that.

Socialworker
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Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2008 2:50 pm

Postby Socialworker » Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:14 pm

MaggieC wrote:An appeal is not taken out of the county necessarily. An appeal is taken to a higher court.

Most of this cases are wrong on appeal.

The reason is that the judges i nthe higher courts actually adhere to the law. Many lower courts do not.

You can not introduce any new issues in an appeal. What you are appealign is that the lower court judge made an error on the basis of law.


I'm not sure if that was directed at what I said. I was talking about 2 things. 1, an appeal, which is what you said: a high court, etc... 2, moving your case to another county. It's called a change of venue. If you ask to have your case moved, it is harder because you have to prove there is a problem with the judge themselves, not the facts or rulings.

I thought maybe I wasn't clear.

RhondaShawn
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Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:01 am

TY again...

Postby RhondaShawn » Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:20 pm

Ok, talking about the appeals/hearing with that "judge":
(momma is here now)
She just is not sure what type of hearing that was. All she knows is that she had to go to court cuz CPS had brought up charges on her about neglect. That was sometime last year, and they STILL have not sent/notified her of the court findings, orders or anything like that, that a person would normally get after a court hearing and charges like that. So if anyone knows anything about this, I really appreciate the help ahead of time..... TY SO MUCH! And momma does too!

Please contact me via my personal e-mail: rhondashawn @ gmail. com.... TY again in advance!

Marina
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Postby Marina » Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:41 pm

http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/userma ... tertwo.cfm

Look on this site on Juvenile Court. This says that courts are organized in a variety of ways.

After you look it over, why don't you look in the phone book and call the juvenile court and ask them about it in a general way. Or look on the internet.

RhondaShawn
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Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:01 am

Postby RhondaShawn » Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:52 pm

If I call them, how do I word the question? I would appreciate the reply. I don't really know what to say, accept what I said here, asking yall if there really is such a Judge... Is that what ya'll are thinking that I should ask?

MaggieC

Postby MaggieC » Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:21 pm

Here's the deal in NYC-I suspect it is similar elsewhere. These are my impressions and suggestions (not legal advice).

A call is placed to the Central Registry.

A local CPS worker is alerted as well as the District Attorney.

Two investigations follow.

The DA calls the local police precinct and the detectives investigate the allegations.

The local CPs is alerted and they are required -at least in NYC-to repsond within 24 hrs to the home.


Generally, in NYC, only the CPS comes to the home and the NYPD telephones to set up interviews. In rural areas, both CPS and the PD may respond with a home visit together.


The PD after interviewing all, determines whether or not criminal charges will be lodged. At least in NYC-this determination is done by the RULES of Evidence. (not CPS rules). Often there are no criminal charges in NYC.

CPS makes a determination whether or not to remove the children. THEY ALWAYS REMOVE THE CHILDREN.

In NY, a parent has the right to petition the court within 24 hrs. That is to bring CPS on the carpet. No child may be removed without proof of imminent danger. The burden of proof is on CPS. Call them on providing this proof and they back down. MAKE THEM PROVE THEIR CASE. They do not like court. They are afraid of court because they do not follow the law.

They will attempt to have parents jump through the hoops of services even though no abuse has occured but they have received the "call" and so will make full advantage of receiving same. (they have quotas to achieve).

Get your child back within those first few days by forcing their hand and making them go to court and then , do not comply with their services.

If and only if they have a preponderance of evidence (more paper than you have) can they even attempt to keep your child.

They will only make another venture to court if they want to obtain a court order for a home visit ( also a somewhat difficult hurdle for them to achieve) or if they are hell bent on termintating your rights. (whether or not there is any abuse-hey, numbers are good).

They will start an abuse / neglect petition if they are hell bent on terminating your rights. And, in my researchm, they only initiate same if your child is in foster care -so do not let that child go to foster care-read again at above.

In NY, here is the procedure. It starts with notice of the abuse / neglect petition.

Make damn sure you are given proper notice. Check your state's laws. Some only require notice by mail, others require personal service.
No service-no case, period. Motion to dismiss.

After the notice and return of process, that means you need to appear in court or summary judgment will be declared. That means you lose by default.

A fact finding hearing is then arranged.

Fact finding hearing, conference, then conference of termination if your children have been in foster care more than 15 months.

The key is not to allow them to be in foster care to begin with.

Do not wait for an attorney to be assigned to you at "court".Don't listen to the social workers who say, you can do this at court. Get an attorney immediately. The social worker is not your friend. The social worker wants your child, the social worker needs to make her/ his numbers.
It does not matter if your child is an infant or a teenager, those numbers need to be met.

The first time CPS raises their ugly face go out and get a private attorney. Mortgage the home, max out the credit cards, call the ACLU, call every darn University Law Clinic in your area.
Do not let them get possession or keep possesion of your children. Act before court.

Now here is the icing. No matter what occurs with the police or with the CPS, in the end , you will ALWAYS be designated by CPS as a child abuser in the Central Registry. Yep, another layer to jump through. This is the Administrative Law layer. You went through Criminal, you went through Civil and now you are in Administrative. Clearing your name with the Central Registry generally requires an Administartive Law hearing only, done on papers. Just keep all your documents to make your case.

That's the long and short of it. a bleeding nightmare. But you can win.

You can win.
Last edited by MaggieC on Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:02 pm, edited 3 times in total.

MaggieC

Postby MaggieC » Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:23 pm

Social worker -it was not directed at you but I agree you are not always clear.

MaggieC

Postby MaggieC » Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:57 pm

Rhonda, you would call the clerk of the court and ask for a transcript of the proceeding. And/or just call the clerk of the court to ask advice.


The Clerk of the court is mandated by law to assist pro se (without attorney) participants. The Clerk can not give legal advice but can steer you to the right direction (or should), and can give simple advice.

Keep a note of your conversation with the clerk of the court. Get his/her name and keep a diary of the conversation.

Ask i ndetail who the judge (mediator) was/is and their affiliation.

It is your right as a US Citizen to ask these questions.
Be polite. If the clerk does not respond politely, ask for the name of his/her superior (ask politely) and then cal lthat person, again keeping notes of the call.

Good luck to you.

Marina
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Postby Marina » Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:25 am

Here is the Washington Courts directory.

http://www.courts.wa.gov/court_dir/

Here is the link for some of the Walla Walla courts, including Juvenile.

As you can see from the addresses, the Juvenile court has an address that is different from some of the Municipal court for Walla Walla.

Here is an example of a "combined" court.

http://www.courts.state.va.us/courts/co ... /home.html

General District is combined with Juvenile. This is because Charles City County is tiny, rural, and there is only one court chamber for hearings.

On Charles City's website, it doesn't even list Juvenile court.

http://charlescity.org/

awarren
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:07 pm
Location: california

cps judges

Postby awarren » Tue Sep 02, 2008 1:32 pm

they don't need to have their own-they buy or threaten any judge they want results from. There is one in San Bernardino, CA that never bothers to knwo about the cases-he was bought a long time ago. He went from family court to superior court and never looked back at the destruction he caused. His name is Tetley-even when my daughter had been missing for over a year after running away from a group home that destroyed her-all he talked about in court was golf dates with my daughter's so called lawyer. Corrupt judges in Ca get promoted and cps owns them. Ca has the most dead and injured kids in the cps system in the entire country and are damn proud of it.
interested in hearing and learning about cps mistreatment of families-know several and find it interesting.

FINN
Posts: 111
Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2005 7:55 pm
Location: Indian

ALJ

Postby FINN » Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:20 am

Our first judge was a former CPS lawyer in that county. I believe he still sit on some department comittees but not sure.

On appeal our case was before an administrative law judge (ALJ). Her motion was written on department letterhead.

FINN
Posts: 111
Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2005 7:55 pm
Location: Indian

ALJ

Postby FINN » Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:20 am

Our first judge was a former CPS lawyer in that county. I believe he still sit on some department comittees but not sure.

On appeal our case was before an administrative law judge (ALJ). Her motion was written on department letterhead.


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