Kids taken from me because of hearsay in Montana

[hungariangypsy68]

I reside in Montana and last tuesday I received a call from a caseworker (who has been investigating me) who informed me that I would not be allowed to pick my children up from school that day and that they were being picked up by their father (my ex-husband with whom I share custody) and would be staying with him while "further investigation was being done" and that I needed to report to her office immediately. I told her I would not report to her office until I retained an attorney (have my appt with him tomorrow morning). I then asked if she had a court order to do this at which time she informed me that she would be sending it over for the judge to sign that same day. To my knowledge there is no court order and I have signed nothing with the agency agreeing to any of this. It took me several days to find a good attorney and he was out of town until today. In the meantime, my ex-husband has told me that I am not allowed to see or talk to my children or even attend my son's soccer games and that if I do, I will be arrested. I don't understand how they can enforce this if there is no court order. The attorney's office has tried contacting this caseworker and left her fax numbers and e-mail addresses in an effort to get the information from them. When I called the juvenile court this morning they cannot find anything under my name. Also, this started because of an altercation I had with my adult estranged daughter (19 1/2 years old) because of a fraudulent check she had cashed at my place of employment. The altercation happened at my ex-husband's home (she does not reside with me or him) and she was charged with Partner Family Member Assault. I was not charged with anything and she fled the scene. About a week later when authorities caught up with her and she lied to them and told them I was a drug user/dealer and that I had been the one giving her drugs and that she was suicidal and that I was conducting drug dealings in front of my kids. When my kids were interviewed they denied this because it is simply untrue and my daughter's way of not accepting responsibility for her actions. She was admitted to the psych ward at the hospital here. The caseworker says she was able to place my kids with my ex-husband based on all of this information, even though it is hearsay, and has been provided by my 19 year old estranged daughter whose toxicology report alone proves she had a massive amount of illegal drugs in her system so she was obviously under the influence of such and suffering from a mental breakdown. I left the caseworker a message today indicating that if she did not produce a court order that I would be picking my children up today as is my normal shared custody schedule with my ex-husband. He has agreed to let me do this, after I showed him the law indicating there must be a court order for all of this and as of this date nobody seems to know anything about such an order nor has anyone seen one. The caseworker told my ex-husband that she does not need one??? This is not fair and I am going crazy not being able to even see or talk to my children on the telephone (my ex-husband did let me come say goodnight to them last night which was horrible as they cried hysterically saying they wanted to come home with me and this literally ripped my heart apart). I do not understand how this agency can legally do this to our family based on allegations from my estranged adult daughter who obviously does have a drug problem and wishes to blame me for it.

[family_man]

It's true that without a court order, a CPS worker cannot order you to do anything. Caseworkers do sometimes ask a party they're investigating to voluntarily comply with a Safety Plan to ensure the child is safe while the investigation is ongoing. By allowing your daughter to temporarily stay with your ex, you are voluntarily cooperating with the worker. If you decide not to comply with the plan, then the worker's attorney may ask a judge to order compliance after showing good cause that it's necessary. I am glad you were able to get a good attorney willing to represent you.