Angry teen lies to CPS

[ludwigman1971]

Hello all,

I live in Michigan so I'm at a disadvantage already.

My fiances 14 year old child has been abusing her for about 3 years now. I have been involved in their lives for about a year and have witnessed this many many times. During one of the childs usual temper tantrums my fiance had to defend herself against another physical attack. She constrained the child in a non violent way. Two days later CPS notifies my fiance that a case is open on her. Her child had gone to the school counselor and accused my fiance of hitting. The CPS worker said there were marks so the case will go forward.

The child decided that her father would have less rules and wanted to live with him.

The child has been on probation for truancy for almost two years and I have personally witnessed the child refuse to go to school and use violence to protest.

The child failed a year of school while on probation due to truancy.

The cops have been called many times to report the childs actions to no avail.

During a probation violation (the only one in two years) which was a few days after the CPS notification it was decided to drop the probation violation and charge my fiance with neglect because the CPS worker was there and changed everything.

The child now lives with the father. She got exactly what she wanted and CPS, the probation officer, the guardian ad litem and the courts handed it to her on a silver platter.

They have both been in counseling for two years, my fiance has taken parenting classes and they are in team counseling.

My fiance has her first hearing soon in which she will be requesting a lawyer.

Is the first hearing just to plead guilty or not guilty?
Can and what type of self supporting evidence can be used in the first hearing?
What documents should we have ready?

I never thought I would live to see the day that a child abuses their parent and the parent gets charged?????

[Eljay]

I'm confused about the time line because a first hearing is usually held within 72 hours of the state taking physical and/or legal custody.

You (I know it's she, but I'm going to talk to YOU) should most certainly NOT go into court empty handed! At a minimum, prepare a Declaration of Facts that clarifies what happened to get you to this point. The caseworker will have submitted one to the court and she needs to as well. Initial hearings are NOT the place where the parents get to speak up. The only evidence at that initial hearing will be the CPS report and that is what the judge will base his decision on... UNLESS you get your evidence in too!!!

Read this: http://fightcps.com/2008/05/25/who-will ... your-case/
Do this: http://fightcps.com/2010/12/22/how-to-w ... the-court/

You'll need to submit a copy to the clerk first thing in the morning. If they say "your lawyer needs to submit it" that's not true PLUS you don't have a lawyer (yet). Get the clerk to stamp the copy, have multiple copies available for each of the other attorneys. You also need to do a certificate of service because each person needs to get a copy of whatever you are giving the judge. Even though you won't know names, you can just provide titles:
Counsel for Whatever County Department of Family Services (use the real name)
Counsel for Name of your child
Counsel for Name of father of child

Also, please know that you are in CIVIL court. There are NO criminal charges here (otherwise you'd be telling us about her arrest, bail and arraignment). CPS/Juvenile court has NO AUTHORITY over adults/parents... they ONLY get to have control over children who have been abused/neglected/exploited/abandoned or whatever your state law dictates. So, in order to get parents to do what they want, they ask the courts for legal custody of the children. Then they can control the children, put them in foster care, place them with dad/mom/aunt/grandma, and in order to get them back, you have to do their "services." If you don't do the services, you don't get your kid back. If you do the services, you MIGHT get your kid back. CPS gets money, money, money for having you in services, kids in foster care, putting them on medication, parenting classes, etc. ....... it's all about the extra "gravy money" when it comes to cases like yours -- there is no real abuse or neglect, but they are making mountains out of molehills to make you comply so that they can get money.

Anyhow... as part of your declaration, cite the state law that defines "child abuse" and tell the judge how what you did does NOT fit the bill. Stick to the law.