Bio parents and attorneys

Most parents we have worked with have court appointed attorneys, but even the one we know paid for their own did not get their child back. Of course we have never had bios that put forth much effort, so the attorney did not have much to work with.

It would be tough to find a family lawyer to take on a CPS case; I believe most parents get them appointed by the court. When my niece was suing for sole custody of her son as the child's father was abusing him and CPS was involved, there wasn't a lawyer who would take the case while CPS was involved. They advised her to use the GAL to push for no visitation and termination of parental rights or wait for the CPS portion to get resolved.

I don't think one equals the other. In every case I have seen the court appoints an attorney for everyone. Unknown fathers gets one, mom gets one and the child. The part about if they get the child back depends on how much effort the parents put into working the plan. For kinship, just depends on if they give CPS some names and then if those names pass a CPS check.

Thanks everyone! Great information and replies that have helped me understand how this all works. Another very basic question that I realized I don't know the answer. Who makes the final decision as to where the children will be placed permanently? The Courts, CPS or the attorney ad litem? I understand everyone is supposed to work together for the best interest of the child, but what happens if those three (judge, CPS and attorney ad Litem) aren't on the same page? Is it rare that the three don't agree on what to do?

After TPR CPS has permanent custody of the child, so they get to decide where the child goes. The judge could rule against a placement if the reason was very good, but here I have not heard if that happening. It was never a question in our case, because no one from the family came forward for him, so as his foster parents we got to decide if we wanted to adopt before the dept would open it up to others. Another thing about lawyers, court appointed attorneys are only appointed here under a certain income here, so those that do not qualify could hire those same lawyers and pay them.