ever heard of a foster parent hiring a private attorney?

:mad: While I have not personally needed to hire an attorney, it seems you may need to take that step. At this point the last thing you should have to worry about is whether or not you have angered someone at DCS.

I did consider it, especially since we don't have GAL or CASA here. I tried to get an advocate, but was told because I was advocating for them they wouldn't qualify. Then suddenly, in our case, things started to go smoother, so we didn't need it.

I don't believe you can hire an attorney unless you have defacto parent status. Check into this in our area (Ca.) if the child has been in your care 6 months you can ask the court for this and it is almost always granted. You then have a lot of rights including the right to counsel.

I hired my own attorney. It was the best thing I ever did. Will the social worker be upset, YES. But who cares. They social worker doesn't understand the laws. They maybe have a basic understanding, but nothing more. They know when you hire a lawyer they will be held accountable if they aren't doing their job. Make sure if you hire a lawyer that they have specific experience in the courtroom the case will be heard in and they know the judge and county counsel if possible. This area of the law is very specialized and a "normal" family law attorney will be of minimal help and may even be damaging to your case. Get an EXPERT. I found mine by going to the courtroom and talking with the attorneys as they exited the courtroom. I talked to several until I found one I was comfortable with. Yes this took some time but it was well worth it. Lunch time is the best time becuase everyone exits the courtroom for lunch.

This is not correct. You can always hire an attorney for anything. It is your civil right. However, in order for an attorney to represent you in the courtroom on this specific matter (your foster childs case), you have to have standing in the case. You gain standing by getting something called "De Facto" parent status in California (in your state it may be different) as Kelley Rae correctly mentioned. So if you don't have standing, why hire an attorney. Well an attorney can help you figure out your legal rights and understand them. They can make phone calls to the county counsel, the childs attorney on your behalf. They can funel research to these parties that may be helful in your case. Again, this is why you want to hire an attorney that has specific experties in this courtroom and knows all of the players. For them to be effective, they have to get the county counsel and childs attorney to take their phone calls or talk with them in the halls. This is referred to as backroom politicing and it works very well.

Interesting. I don't want to piss off the cw's or DCFS and make it look like I am trying to steal the kids, but I definitely am not pleased with the adjudication thing and am fearful for what might be going on behind the scenes that I do not know. All the reports and information i have read about foster care and court processes...say that Adjudication is supposed to take place within 30 days with only one continuance allowed. Well...its been 8 months now and still nothing. How can that be right? Anyone ever had adjudication take so long?? and has it ever been overturned and the kids sent back? Something is not right. K.

From everything you have posted, your case sounds like it is screwed up to me. The court must have a permenant plan for the children within 18 months of them coming into the system. It sounds like your journey has been much longer than that already.

I guess that you've probably heard me say this a dozen times at least but it bears repeating here. Hiring an attorney to represent Her Sweetness was the smartest thing we did and it was worth every penny we spent! I felt I needed an attorney because our case was happening in a state 1,000 miles away and I had no experience with social services or the rules they follow. I got my lawyer referral by call the domestic violence shelter in that community. I asked them who they thought had done the best job representing the interests of children in social services cases. They gave me two names. (The one I didn't choose ended up representing the biodad and drove his case right into the ground. Lucky for me, I listened to my gut feeling and hired the one who was a young father himself.) My lawyer contacted the caseworker and the lawyers assigned to the bios and told them he would be representing the baby. At the first hearing, they supported his motion to be named Guardian ad Litum. The agency had no room to complain because it saved them the trouble of assigning a CASA volunteer or the expense of hiring a GAL for our case. It was like I had gone to them and said, "Here, let me pay for all of that." How could they object? I told my attorney and the caseworkers from the very beginning that I wanted to insure an outcome that was in the best interest of Her Sweetness. That did not mean that I wanted any particular result. I just wanted to make sure that no one made any decisions that did not protect Her Sweetness and her future. Our case ended up being fast-tracked by a cooperative caseworker, prosecutor and judge; but I still give credit to our attorney for keeping everyone's focus on Her Sweetness and her needs. DeeCee

DeeCee Forgive me...but i don't remember if you said if your little one was actually in foster care or was it with custody or some other arrangement. The thing about hiring an attorney...is that I dont' have the money for it. I am still paying the guy back from his first go around with me from two years ago. It seems odd that a private attorney would have to be hired to represent the best interst of the child, when the State CPS and private foster agency is SUPPOSED to be doing just that. But I think you might be right. I might have to do exactly that and hire an attorney. Do I tell the foster agency this in advance(if i go this route) or do i just have him show up in court on the next court date? Do i ask the foster agency what they think about it? Thanks DeeCee and everyoneK.

Her Sweetness was in foster care (three different placements for about 11 weeks total) before being placed with me as her Kinship Care Provider under an approved ICPC. They knew she would be coming to me from the first day Her Sweetness was in CPS custody -- but that didn't stop at least one of the foster moms from getting attached enough to want to keep her. The cynic in me has always wondered if the agency can fairly represent the interests of the children when they are so busy making sure the parents don't sue them for violating their rights. Maybe things would be different if more kids got lawyers and threatened to sue the agency (or their parents!) for ignoring their best interests. When I hired Her Sweetness' attorney, I intended that he be the watchdog on the others throughout the process. I was thrilled when he officially took on the GAL role -- although I would have been happier still if the state had offered to pay his fees! DeeCee

Kristin, you can probably request and get a GAL in court that the state will pay for. Point out the length of time these kids have been in/out of care, etc., any particular legal issues that apply that require a GAL to look out for the children, etc. The trick will be to get in front of a judge to do that. Call the clerk's office and see if there is a form you can file to request a hearing or simply go to the next one if it is soon. The GAL won't be working for or even necessarly responding to you, but is supposed to work for the child only. The cw's are not charged to work solely for the child's best interest. First and foremost, their job is to follow the practices of their agency. They also have budget to answer for. They also have a certain obligation to protect or at least not thwart the integrity of the family unit. They also have obligations re parental rights. What you and I would call "best interest" is often an afterthought. Also, have the criminal charges been heard yet? Was there a conviction? The adjudication is the civil trial, at which there would be a "finding" of "true" or "not true." In many states, the criminal trial is CPS's show, the adjudication is the caseworker's... Depending on whether you mean the criminal or the civil, the cw may not be the person involved. It's astounding that, given that these children have been in the system for several years now they don't have a GAL. Clearly one is needed!