Safety Plan

Here's the place to discuss how to win in juvenile courtrooms.

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oryana
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:07 am
Location: Dothan AL

Safety Plan

Postby oryana » Wed Jan 11, 2012 8:38 am

Months ago when allegations against my boyfriend came up, the on-call dhr worker intimidated me to sign a 'safety plan' by telling me that if i didnt sign it allowing my children to return to their babysitters home, they be immediately be placed in state custody. She did not talk to my daughter or myself at all before informing me that under no circumstances would my children be going home with me. I was scared, and had never dealt with the system before. Unaware of my parental rights, and knowing I had nothing to hide, I signed it. But, when I saw the document (three weeks later) that I supposively signed, it was absolutely not the same thing I had signed. By me signing a supposed 'safety plan' did that waive the 72 hour hearing rule, or any other procedure that is supposed to be followed?

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Eljay
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Re: Safety Plan

Postby Eljay » Wed Jan 11, 2012 9:06 am

Safety plans are supposed to be temporary, "voluntary" agreements to keep the kids safe while an "investigation" is done. I put quotes around "voluntary" because it's usually forced upon you in an extortionary manner. I put quotes around "investigation" because CPS doesn't conduct an investigation in the way that we normally think of one where the facts are ascertained by honest and widely accepted interrogation procedures. It's more like writing a fantasy novel where they try to make things look far worse than they really are, just so they can make money.

They should have given you a copy of the safety plan at the time it was executed. If they didn't, and you think what they did create a false/forged document, then you need to start making some phone calls. If they want custody of children, they either take it via the courts or the parents give it up voluntarily. If you think that they had you sign a voluntary release of custody while telling you it was a temporary safety plan, you need to raise some hell. On the other hand, if they said, "we'd like you to agree to a safety plan where your boyfriend leaves the house" and you said NO, then they might have said, "since you won't separate the victims from the abuser, then we can place the children elsewhere" and they may have had you sign that form instead. I sure hope not. Either way, if you were misled, you'll need to escalate this up.

Normally, they investigate and if their intention is to remove the kids, they will file a petition with the court immediately and you'll have a hearing within 72 hours. Have you had any court hearings? Are you on a service plan? Where are you in the process and have they said they are working to reunify you with your kids? What is the status w/your boyfriend? Were the police involved? Is he still with you?
Advice & opinions provided are no substitute for genuine legal assistance. Laws & rules vary by state/jurisdiction so do your homework and get
an education in CPS laws, rules & practices so that you can FIGHT for your children's rights. I am not a lawyer. Your mileage may vary.

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oryana
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:07 am
Location: Dothan AL

Re: Safety Plan

Postby oryana » Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:26 am

I was never given a choice between my children or him. Of course, I would have immediately chosen my children without hesitation. I made him leave my residence anyway. But dhr chose not to even come to my home to attempt to verify this. They didnt file for an initial hearing for three weeks. And at that hearing, it was stated that I "failed to protect my children" and my attorney didnt even speak up for me one bit, so the judge granted dhr temp custody. I have had several hearing dates since then and all have been continued. My side hasnt even began to be heard. Dhr has asked for drug testing (ive taken a total of 6, all negative), a psych eval (which resulted in my favor), attendance of parenting classes (that I completed 3 months ago), and counseling (which Ive been attending for 5 months). My so-called case worker assisted a paternal relative in filing a petition for custody and over all has been extremely unprofessional and down right rude to me. My visits have all been supervised for an hour a week. I have been denied access to any and ALL of my records. My case worker has said almost from the very beginning that they are trying to move toward "reunification", but it is very clear they have no intention.

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Eljay
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Re: Safety Plan

Postby Eljay » Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:55 am

Were the children actually abused? Does CPS has proof/testimony to back it up?
Advice & opinions provided are no substitute for genuine legal assistance. Laws & rules vary by state/jurisdiction so do your homework and get
an education in CPS laws, rules & practices so that you can FIGHT for your children's rights. I am not a lawyer. Your mileage may vary.

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oryana
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:07 am
Location: Dothan AL

Re: Safety Plan

Postby oryana » Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:43 pm

No. And no. Only hear-say

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Eljay
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Re: Safety Plan

Postby Eljay » Fri Jan 13, 2012 6:56 am

Go to the police and have them to a real investigation. Then you can take that to court and show (hopefully) that there was no abuse, no need for CPS to be involved at all. You also need to detail for the court in writing all of the laws/policies/procedures that CPS broke in your case. When is your next hearing and what is it called?
Advice & opinions provided are no substitute for genuine legal assistance. Laws & rules vary by state/jurisdiction so do your homework and get
an education in CPS laws, rules & practices so that you can FIGHT for your children's rights. I am not a lawyer. Your mileage may vary.

----<>----<>----<>---- BREED WITH CAUTION ----<>----<>----<>----

oryana
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:07 am
Location: Dothan AL

Re: Safety Plan

Postby oryana » Fri Jan 13, 2012 8:09 am

What particular department of the police should I go to? My next hearing is not until June. As far as I can tell by the court papers, the dependency hearing is still pending. My (so-called) case worker has said several times that the hearing is to decide if my children should have been taken from me in the first place. But my attorney says it is to decide on permanent custody for my children. So, Im not certain what its really about. Don't I have a legal right to my (dhr) file?
And I have no idea about my ex. We have not been together since this started. However, dhr insists otherwise. That is one of the things they are trying to use against me....they say I am still with him.

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Eljay
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Re: Safety Plan

Postby Eljay » Fri Jan 13, 2012 10:39 am

You want a "crimes against children" or juvenile investigator. Your police dept - depending on its size - may not have a designated, trained person, but they should have access to resources to get it professionally investigated. CPS does not care to validate if/what crimes happened nor who did them. Police departments are investigators by nature/definition so they will want to get to the truth of the matter. They also (usually) follow proper investigative techniques to ensure that the kids aren't led into wrong answers. Tell them that you need this investigation to be done INDEPENDENT of DHR/CPS because your kids never expressed any indication of abuse and that CPS never even interviewed prior to removal from the home. Hopefully, you'll be able to walk away with a thorough investigation that says your kids were NOT abused, but if they were, just who did it and what happened. If nothing happened, then your girls have been removed for no reason whatsoever. If they have been, then you need to make sure they are getting the help they need to overcome that trauma (counseling etc.).

You might also pursue having a licensed therapist or psychologist talk to your child(ren). How did the allegation come about? Was it from your daughter?
Advice & opinions provided are no substitute for genuine legal assistance. Laws & rules vary by state/jurisdiction so do your homework and get
an education in CPS laws, rules & practices so that you can FIGHT for your children's rights. I am not a lawyer. Your mileage may vary.

----<>----<>----<>---- BREED WITH CAUTION ----<>----<>----<>----

oryana
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:07 am
Location: Dothan AL

Re: Safety Plan

Postby oryana » Fri Jan 13, 2012 11:46 am

This is a long story, so its almost impossible to include every little detail. But, an acquaintance was keeping my 2 younger daughters for the weekend. She called and told me that my middle child had said something about being touched inappropriately. (It was very late at night) She insisted on waking up both my girls and taking them to the hospital. I told her to wait and i would come handle it. She ignored my request and called me again saying she was on her way and for me to meet her there. I took my middle child back to the ER and while waiting on the doctor, I calmly asked her to tell me what was going on. I explained to her that it was very important to tell the truth no matter what it was. She would not say anything at all. A few minutes passed, and she asked if we could just come home so she could get in her own bed and wanted to know why we were even there. There was no exam done and after about a 2 minute conversation with the doctor when I excused myself to go to the restroom, he informed me that the law and dhr had been contacted. He never even told me what was said. When the dhr worker got there, she intimidated me into signing a safety plan to allow my children to go back to the sitters home.
To answer your question directly, none of my daughters ever said anything to me to indicate the possibility of abuse. They showed no fear what so ever of the 'accused' and they had been around him for quite a while. I have considered the possibility that maybe I just didnt notice signs that something wasn't right. But it doesn't make sense. My daughters adored him, and never hesitated to show it.
Dhr has had their mind made up from day one, and they have made that obvious. I was never interviewed at all. They never requested to speak with any family friends that frequented my home and witnessed my relationship with my children. Physical exams were done, but they waited 4 days to do them. The results were inconclusive. They have not discussed any of the accusations with my oldest, who could have told them the truth about all of this before it got so far. I have repeatedly inquired about them talking to my 12 year old, but they continually say that she has not made any accusations so it is not necessary to discuss this with her. Yet, she was taken along with the other 2.
They have said over and over that I failed to protect my children, and when I ask for an explanation considering the morning the allegations first came up I made the 'accused' leave my home, they avoid answering me. All they say is that they believe he is still around. They continue to receive reports that we are together, but have no proof (cause its not true).

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Eljay
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Re: Safety Plan

Postby Eljay » Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:33 pm

So as far as you know, they've built a house of cards on a wobbly table with three legs. I most certainly hope and pray that your daughter(s) have not been molested, but to have them proceed without any sort of confirmation is absurd.

In my case, our daughter at age 8 was sleeping between her father and I (kids always wanted to sleep with us!) and he rolled over and his hand landed on her chest. Three years later, she told a teacher and that teacher had to report to CPS. When we asked why she never told anyone, she broke down crying "I didn't want mommy and daddy to get a divorce." I told her for several days before CPS showed up that if there is *anything* else that happened, anything she remembers, that she needs to tell me, that I'm here to protect her, etc. I called the police and started and investigation with them as well so when CPS showed up, the police were there also. That was a godsend because they walked away from the investigation with two completely different perspectives of what happened. CPS wanted to call it "sexual abuse" and the PD said there was nothing there. They also tried to make a big issue out of the fact that we used to shower with the kids. CPS told us they wanted dad out of the house for 6 months and we said "hell NO." CPS wanted to lie/twist things and say that I knew about the "sexual abuse" and allowed it to continue (uh, it happened once... how is that "continued" and even our daughter told everyone that she intentionally withheld the info). Now, for my daughter, it was "real" and somewhat traumatic, especially having to relive it. Still, I gently prodded her for any more information and there was nothing else. I still wondered if she was hiding something else so, stupid me, thought that when CPS eventually showed up, she would tell them. When I asked CPS what else my daughter had told them, they said, "we can't for confidentiality reasons, but your daughter told us she is afraid of her father touching her again." When I asked the police investigator, he said my daughter didn't say anything other than what she had told me and what I had relayed to them. He also told me that it was the CPS caseworker who said, "are you afraid of your father touching you again?" and think about it... there is only one way to answer that question!

So..... having the police involved was important because once we got rid of the evil, lying emergency caseworker, we got to an honest "dependency investigator" who found out the real truth and having the police report to confirm the realities of the situation, coupled with the fact that there was nothing even close to a crime committed, was instrumental in our case. Also, when she interviewed me, I brought a copy of the state definition of child sexual abuse and read each and every point asking just what in their investigation showed that there was any indication of sexual abuse. There was no:

- intent (she even said her dad was asleep as far as she could tell),
- sexual gratification (he was not moaning, rubbing, even moving... he was snoring)
- attempt to cover (he did it with me in bed next to them... don't molesters usually get their victims alone???)
- manipulation (wouldn't he tell her not to tell? promise her something nice or threaten her???)
- repeated events (really.... if he were a pedophile, don't you think we'd see more than a three second grope of her flat chest in the middle of the night?)

This wasn't so much about me defending my husband, but trying to find out if he DID do any of these things! If he did, I wanted to KNOW! I truly believe that me demanding that they answer all of these questions was crucial to how our case developed. Sure, they may stonewall you, but in order to protect your child and treat anything that happened to her, you must know!

Also, WRT to them claiming you are still with the guy, they are complete idiots at investigating. During the investigation, when dad was living away from the home, we were under construction. It was mid-day and I had gone on a paint run with one of the workers in his truck. When we returned and pulled in the driveway, I saw this woman pull away from the house. It was the supervisor who had never met my husband nor did they have a picture of him. I called my lawyer and said, "just you wait... they're going to claim that my husband was here at the house with me." Okay... just a little paranoid and they never did bring that up, but don't let them BS you... make them answer to you. "You claim we're together.... have you seen him at my house? Is he stalking me? Do you have pictures? What does this guy look like? How do you know him from my brother/uncle/new boyfriend?"

So, bottom line, did you call the police yet? Tell them what is going on, that they never even TALKED to your daughter(s) before taking them away and you want a thorough investigation done, especially because if that guy DID molest, you want him in jail!
Advice & opinions provided are no substitute for genuine legal assistance. Laws & rules vary by state/jurisdiction so do your homework and get
an education in CPS laws, rules & practices so that you can FIGHT for your children's rights. I am not a lawyer. Your mileage may vary.

----<>----<>----<>---- BREED WITH CAUTION ----<>----<>----<>----

oryana
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:07 am
Location: Dothan AL

Re: Safety Plan

Postby oryana » Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:25 am

When my "case worker" brought up the 'several reports' of people seeing me and this man together, I asked where her pictures were, and she said "well, we don't have anything like that". I explained to her that was my point. I have also questioned that when this all started and I made the man leave my home, no one even came to try to verify if indeed he was there or not. This was her response....."I could come to your house right now, and just because he's not there at this moment, isn't proof that he won't be later." I will admit, that is correct. But then how do I 'prove' anything to these people if they are not even willing to put forth any effort? They are not even searching for the real truth, and no one is going to make them. They have made it very clear they don't believe a word I say. Instead of trying to see me for who I really am, which is a good person and mother, they are going out of their way to show what a horrible person they believe me to be. So, what do I do?
I will try going to the police this coming week, but here it is all about the 'good ol boy system' and I'm afraid this has been going on too long for it to do any good. But I suppose nothing can hurt at this point. I know this entire thing is wrong, and if I could just get one person that has some authority to listen to me, maybe it can start to be corrected. I sat around in the beginning and trusted my attorney to take care of it. He said he would. And he has done more harm than good.
I lose sleep every night because I miss my girls so much. I just don't see how people can see this as okay. One (or two) persons opinion, without even knowing the details or the people involved, is detrimentally affecting my children and myself. How is that right, on any level?


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