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DSS may come into your life for multiple reasons. Sometimes it is for a good reason and sometimes it is completely frivolous. When it comes to having your children removed from by DSS it can be a very distressing situation. Regardless of the reason for the removal of your children the Family Court must hold a probable cause hearing within 72 hours to determine if DSS had probable cause or a good enough reason to remove your children.
At this hearing, DSS generally has the upper hand. In almost all cases, defendants are not represented by an attorney at this hearing and they have no idea why they are in court, what has happened to their children and what they have to do to get their children back. At the probable cause hearing, DSS will call witnesses and attempt to prove their case while you will not be allowed to testify. You will have an opportunity cross-examine the DSS witnesses and you will be able to submit affidavits to the court supporting your situation.
If you are unrepresented at this hearing and are unable to afford an attorney to represent you, the family court will appoint an attorney to represent you. This is great, except that not all attorneys that are on the appointment list handle family court and DSS matters. You may get an attorney who makes it his goal in life to stay away from a court room. A guardian ad litem will also be appointed to represent your children and to perform an investigation for the Court with their mind set on determining what is in the best interest of the children.
I would recommend that if your children have been taken from you by DSS you should immediately contact an attorney who is experienced in representing people in DSS matters. There are strict time lines and regulations that DSS must comply with and if they don’t it can help your case. Only an experienced professional will know these things. You should not go to a probable cause hearing unrepresented if you can help it.
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Hello, I’m the God Mother of a child who has been taking from the birth mom and placed with DSS,and a foster family. I have been in the past the one they would place the child with in case of a problem that has acured with the mom but this time they did not place her with me, and the mom is now going to go back to jail, for none child suport for another child that the other father has and the birth mom and i was trying to find out if she has the right to place her with some one , me the God Mother i have cared for the child since she was born , i would get her weeks at a time and months i cared for her as if she were my own i love her , and don’t want her to have to be in the foster system , when to the court hearing when the problem happend back in april 2009 and they told me i did not make enough to keep her i to have a 3 year old little girl and my God Child is 5 they play very well together and love each other and we don’t get to visit but every 2 weeks for one hour and it is hard for my daughter to understand why her God Sister can’t come spend the night or come see her any more it has not efected just one party but all invovled I want her but DSS is trying to take her from the birth mom for good the mom has been in and out of jail for fighting and drugs and tring to kill her self she has some big problems and i dont think the child should go back to the birth mom. So what we are trying to find out is dose the birth mom have the right to choose some one for the child to stay with now since she is with the DSS System and in Foster Care if she dose have the right what do we need to do? And how do we go about it? The birth mom has till april 2010 I think to finish all that the judge orderd for her to do I don’t think she has fininshed all and if she gose to jail how will that work with her not being able to complet all that was ordered? So you see I need help to understand how the system works I want the child with me I do take care of her like my own I was the one who potty trained her and taught her her colors and abc’s and read books to her and just loves on her and give her attention that she so deserves.
Hi Theresa,
Thanks for your question. I’m sorry to hear of the situation you find yourself in. Certainly, it makes sense for you to have placement of the minor child because of your relationship with him rather than he being placed with a foster family that he does not know. But, this is more of a situation where the biological mother and her attorney will need to make this request from DSS and the Family Court. Since you are not a party to the action you will not have standing to go to court and ask for the placement of the child. Generally, the court would like to place the child with a family member, but it is not unheard of for the child to be placed with someone who is not a biological family member. A pre-placement home study is required before the child can be placed with you.
As always, I need to do my ethical duty as an attorney and let you know that this blog is meant to provide general legal information and not specific advice or information for your particular situation. Before relying on any information from this site, you should consult a competent attorney to discuss the specifics of your case.
I am a grandmother who now has custody of my grandaughter. She had a broken arm and buckle brreak in her leg. My daughter did not know how it happened and past a polygraph. Her fiance who is not the father was not able to take the ploygraph because of a back injury in Iraq. My husband and I and my grandaughters other grandparents have no problem with the baby going back to her Mom. We have never suspected the fiance of doing anything. The fiance has his own children and there has never been question of abuse with them. This has been going on since last April. They have done everything DSS has told them to do. After the polygraph my daughter was able to see her child unsupervised, but a month ago they recended that. After Parent councelors saying there wasn’t anything needed, they made them see if anger management was needed and it wasn’t and a councelor to make sure the fiance wasn’t abusive, he saw no problems, DSS has decided there hasn’t been any progress and it is going to family court. They called the biological father and asked where he wanted his daughter to go and told us we would get custody. The biological father is in the military and doesn’t want to have her. Also, DSS said we couldn’t get a guardian ad litem they had to order one. Can we? I know if they saw how my daughter and fiance were they would see the baby would be fine. Is my daughter seriously in danger of losing her parental rights? We hired a lawyer when they arrested her. They said the charges were being dropped because she passed the polyggraph. Do we need to change lawyers and not pay thousands to do it. He hasn’t done anything the coucel us on what to do. My husband was laid off and we are hoping he gets a job before family court and DSS finds out. Will that be a problem if they find out and my daughter loses custody? We haven’t the money to get another lawyer and are being bullied by DSS. What should we do in our situation to make sure the best is done for our granddaughter.
Hi Janette,
This is a very serious situation that will require the assistance of a lawyer and I would encourage you to speak with a lawyer immediately about this case.
I have a friend that is in a lot of trouble. She has been involved with DSS a couple of times and got her kids back and the case closed. Well they have got involved once again under the wrong circumstances (at least this time anyway). Well the other day something happened and my friend got in trouble with the law in another state, so my question is, if DSS is involved in one state and someone goes to jail in another state are DSS automatically called or do they have access to information like that.
My grandaughter was taken by Dss. and I need to find a lawyer for my daughter. My daughter argued alot with her boyfriend and they thought that it could result in hurting the their child so they took her. would really like some advise.
Is there a way to get a child back BEFORE a probable cause hearing? Mother had child taken in emergency placement because the living environment was determined not safe due to cleanliness, pest, & broken AC.
Can the mother get child back before 72 hr probable cause hearing if the mother has removed herself to a better environment? Can DSS evaulate the environment prior to the hearing and the child says with the mother until the hearing? If not is there anything (besides getting a lawyer which is being taken care of now) that the mother can do before 72 hours?
Hi Felicia,
Typically not. There is no harm is asking the caseworker/DSS investigator to come out and check out the new place. However, this early on there may not be an assigned investigator or caseworker and DSS is usually pretty tight-lipped until the 72 hour hearing. By showing the problem has been fixed, the chances should be increased to have the child returned to the mother following the 72 hour hearing, but the case will likely not be dismissed at that point.
DISCLAIMER: I need to do my ethical duty as an attorney and let you know that this blog is meant to provide general legal information and not specific advice or information for your particular situation. Before relying on any information from this site, you should consult a competent attorney to discuss the specifics of your case.
is there any way to find out if someone has been removed by dss for a short time ? thanks
Probably not. DSS cases are “closed” files meaning you cannot go up to the family court clerk’s office to pull a DSS removal/abuse file to see if a child has been removed or to see if a parent has an abuse/neglect case pending or finalized against them. There is a central registry where some people who are found liable for abuse/neglect are placed, but I do not think that is a public registry (like the sexual offender registry). That registry is typically used as a reference in a background check (like a child care center might perform prior to hiring a new teacher).