HRS, Now known as the Department of Children and Families: Can they really do that?
By Doris Rompf, Esquire
Many people have had an encounter
with the Department of Children and Families, “the Department,” formerly
known as HRS. For many, the experience was unpleasant. The
Department has received its share of negative media
attention in recent years. Some believe that
the Department has the power to snatch children
away from their families in the middle of the night
without warning or explanation. Still others
believe that the Department is too slow to act
which has caused children to suffer in abusive
situations. This article answers some frequently
asked questions about the Department.
When I went to pick up
my children from school, I was told that the
Department of Children and Families had “detained” them;
what does that mean, what can I do?
The Department of Children
and Families, formerly known as HRS, is charged
with protecting the State’s
children from abuse, neglect and abandonment. When
a report or complaint is received at the abuse
hotline, the report is treated either as an immediate
report or a 24-hour report. A counselor from
the Department must investigate the report within
two hours if it is an immediate, in other words,
the child is considered to be in immediate danger. The
counselor must conduct a preliminary investigation. The
investigation is conducted by seeing and interviewing
the child, taking the child for a medical evaluation,
if necessary, interviewing the person who reported
the abuse, and interviewing the person who allegedly
abused the child. The counselor may take
additional steps when conducting this investigation;
however, he or she is not required to interview
the alleged perpetrator of the abuse before deciding
if the child will be removed from the parent or
parents. The Department may detain or place
the child with a parent, grandparent or other relative,
a friend of the family, or in emergency shelter
care (foster care). The parent is entitled
to a hearing within 24 hours of the detention to
determine if the Department had “probable
cause” or a sufficient legal basis to remove
the child. The Department is required to
investigate and place the child with a relative
before placing the child in foster care. To
minimize trauma to the child, the parent should
identify viable relative resources who can care
for the child until the case is fully investigated
and it is deemed safe for the child to return home.
I have been served with
a Petition for Dependency which says that I
abused my child. What
do I do?
Every parent is entitled
to an attorney in a dependency action. If the parent cannot afford an attorney,
the court will appoint one to represent the parent. After
the petition has been filed, the court will conduct
an arraignment hearing. At that hearing,
the parent will admit the allegations in the petition
or deny them. If the parent denies the allegations
in the petition, the court will usually order the
parents and the Department to go to mediation. At
mediation, the parents and the Department will
attempt to resolve the case without going to trial. If
the case is not resolved at mediation, the court
will conduct a trial. It is the responsibility
of the Department to prove to the court that the
parent or parents abused, neglected, or abandoned
the child. If the Department is unable to
prove its case, the court will dismiss the petition,
and the parents will be able to take their child
home. If the court finds that the Department
has carried its burden of proof, the court will
order the parents to comply with a case plan to
regain custody of their children. A case
plan is a legal document that tells the parents
what tasks they must complete before custody can
be returned to them. Often those tasks will
include, parenting skills classes, anger management
classes, maintaining stable housing, maintaining
stable, legal employment, and paying child support
for the child. Before a case goes to trial,
parents may begin to work on their case plans and
possibly avoid the need for a trial if they complete
it to the satisfaction of the Department. The
Department can recommend, at that point, that the
child be returned to the home under the supervision
of the Department. Supervision entails visits
by the Department to the home to ensure that the
home is stable. If all is well, after six
months the court may close the case.
My children were removed
from my custody about 10 months ago. The Department has filed
a Petition to Terminate Parental Rights. Will
I lose my children forever?
The Department must make
a recommendation for the permanent placement
of a child who has been out of the parent’s care for a year. One
of the Department’s choices for permanent
placement can be the permanent termination of parental
rights. The parent is entitled to a court
appointed attorney if he or she cannot afford one. If the
court terminates the parent’s rights, the
parent has the right to an appeal. An appeal
is a process during which a higher court reviews
the record and transcript to determine if the presiding
judge followed the law and applied it correctly. If
the court terminates parental rights, the child
will be available for adoption. The child
may be adopted by his or her foster parent, a family
member, or any other person who has the desire
to parent the child.
My children were just
removed from my custody. The
Department has filed a Petition to Terminate
Parental Rights. Can they do that?
The Department may choose
to proceed directly to termination of parental
rights, instead of offering the parents a case
plan to reunify them with their children. Normally the Department is required
to make reasonable efforts to reunite parents with
their children by offering them services and a
case plan. However, recent legislation has
made it possible for the Department to request
that the court waive the “reasonable efforts” requirement
and proceed right to termination of parental rights. Instances
in which the Department may proceed directly to
termination of parental rights are numerous. The
following reasons are some of the more common reasons
that a petition for expedited termination of parental
rights is filed. They may proceed when the child
has suffered egregious abuse by the parent such
as broken bones, head trauma and other life threatening
injuries. If a parent has shown through previous
case plan failures on other children in the care
of the Department that they would not benefit from
an additional case plan, the Department is not
required to offer a parent a new case plan on a
child recently removed from their care. Termination
of parental rights petitions filed under
this basis usually involve parents who suffer from
conditions that are likely to continue without
hope of recovery, such as drug abuse and mental
illness. The Department may also file for
expedited termination of parental rights when the
parent will be incarcerated for a substantial portion
of the child’s minority. For instance,
if a parent is incarcerated for ten years when
a child is five years old, the parent won’t
be released until that child is fifteen years old. Since
only three years will remain of the child's minority
when the parent is released from prison, the Department
could proceed to terminate the parental rights
of the parent. Also, if the identity or whereabouts
of the parent is unknown and a diligent search
for the parent fails to reveal the whereabouts
of a parent for a period of six months prior to
the filing of a termination of parental rights
petition, the Department may also proceed directly
to termination of parental rights.
My granddaughter has lived
with me for years. Every
time my granddaughter’s mother is released
from prison, she comes and takes the child from
me. When she returns the child, usually
a week or two later, the child is sick, dirty,
and has lice. I have called the Department,
but they won’t do anything to help me. What
can I do?
My children were taken
from me several years ago. They live with their paternal grandmother. Now
that I have a job and a place, since I’m
their mother, can’t I just go and pick
them up?
No, once
the court places children with a relative, non-relative,
or in foster care, a court order is required before
the child may return to the parents. Before
a child can be returned home to a parent, a motion
must be filed with the court, and the court must
find that it is in the child’s
best interest to be returned home to the parent. If
the child has been out of the parent’s care
for a substantial period of time, the court will
consider the impact of removing the child from
the caregivers. The parent’s current
stable living arrangements will only be a part
of the court’s analysis.
