I will begin this advice by reminding you what you already know:
If you are dealing with a situation of sexual abuse of a child in Texas, you must, by law, report the suspected abuse to the DFPS - Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. There is a hotline in Texas- 1-800-252-5400. Or you can make a report at www.txabusehotline.org.
If there is no evidence of sexual abuse, you must be prepared with a plan of action if you are a grandparent seeking to remove the child from the circumstances they are in. DO NOT EXPECT CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES (in Texas) TO TAKE ACTION THAT WILL GIVE YOU CUSTODY OR POSSESSION OF THE CHILD.
Other states have agencies that are charged with intervening to remove children where there is neglect and abuse. If there is clear sexual abuse in Texas, they can and will intervene. If there is not - and even though we may be dealing with neglect and even physical abuse - they often cannot or will not intervene. I have had cases where they walk into a residence, look around, see the clear evidence of abuse and neglect, and then turn around and leave, taking no action whatsoever.
This can be very discouraging for a grandparent or family member. It is shocking sometimes. And truly maddening. You must remember: What is needed for you as a grandparent or concerned family member is a long term strategy. That is because there is no short term fix. Fortunately the court system may allow you to bypass the whole broken bureaucratic nightmare of Child Protective Services. If you can get your case in front of the court.
If you are dealing with a family member who is struggling with drug addiction, or who is placing your grandchildren in an unsafe environment due to abusive or violent behavior in the household, there are steps you can begin to take immediately.
No matter what state you are in, it is necessary in this kind of situation for you to begin building a record. We advise our clients to begin collecting evidence – keep a simple notebook with dated entries of every occasion when evidence was observed of the condition of the children: details of family violence and names of witnesses; details of drug use and names of witnesses or other evidence. If you have information about what drug or drugs are being abused, so much the better. If you have names of police departments, with the dates of police reports, excellent. Names of medical providers and teachers or counselors, neighbors, and church information can all be valuable leads in assembling a record that can be the foundation of a critical mass of evidence for the Court.
We also urge our clients to obtain photographic evidence of the conditions which the child is forced to live in. Digital pictures are best, as they can be uploaded to a CD or displayed to the Court in a digital format.
It may be important for you to take steps to avoid having your access to the child cut off by a parent who is antagonized by your efforts. We often advise our clients to tread very carefully under these circumstances. A lot of information may be hidden from you by your adult child who is struggling with drug addiction or family violence. Often the parent is very ashamed or embarrassed about the situation they have allowed to develop. They may try to hide it and deny, for instance, that the bruises all over a mother’s body are from continuing hidden physical abuse. Every case is different.
Under certain circumstances, you as a grandparent or family member have the statutory authority to take the child for medical, dental, psychological, or surgical treatment (Texas Family Code 32.001.) There are situations where a medical care provider may examine a child without consent of the child’s parents (Texas Family Code section 32.005). And a grandparent or other family member may consent to immunization of the child under certain circumstances. Be sure you obtain legal advice if possible before acting on these statutes.
There are other steps that can be taken, which are dependent on the circumstances of each situation. Please call to make an appointment so that we may discuss with you the details of the case for the child you are trying to protect. And let us help you begin the process of building a strategy that you can begin to implement, in order to assure a safe and loving environment for your grandchild, niece, nephew, or younger brother or sister. Call us at 817-335-2037 to schedule an appointment to analyze the situation and begin the process of evaluating your options.
If possible, you should call us before you call Child Protective Services. That way you can be prepared for some of the ugly surprises that may be in store for you and the children.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Grandparents: What you must know to get custody of your Grandchildren
Many people remember their grandparents - and see grandparents today - as the emotional anchor of their extended families. It seems intuitively logical that grandparents should have the right, legally, to step in and intervene when they see their grandchildren in situations of abuse, neglect and worse. Drug use of adult children is all too frequent, more so now than before the introduction of cheap, easy to obtain methamphetamines and other street drugs.
This situation has reached crisis proportions in almost every city and town in the country - formerly stable and sober young parents becoming unable to care for their children. And young children left without care, nurturing, guidance, structure. And sometimes without adequate nutrition in situations of filth and even actual physical danger to the child. Family violence of one parent or the other adds an explosive element to this powder keg. And astonishingly, even with deplorable filth, drug use, and family violence, Child Protective Services is often unable to act to protect the children. They may even enter the home, look around, see the filth and neglect, and leave the children with the parent in the same situation in which they found them! Sometimes it is astounding. It is almost always insufficient to cause any real change in the long term conditions in which the children must live.
Grandparents sometimes are forced to watch helplessly in anguish as their young grandchildren go through the tragic lack of care and protection in their fragile formative years, knowing that the children are being exposed to family violence, frequent drug use, and exposure to unsafe persons and circumstances. They watch as they see insufficient or non existent medical care, knowing that they could provide it. They observe serious nutritional inadequacies. They see little to non-existent educational support. And untreated physical and mental health or psychiatric conditions that could permanently scar the child’s development and destroy any hope of a future for that child.
Legally, grandparents have a difficult situation when it comes to what actions they can take through the court system to secure the safety and the well being of the grandchildren they love. Many a grandparent has rescued a grandchild from a household where the parents have become drug addicted. Or have fallen off the deep end and are not functioning as mature, reliable, stable parents. But the path to obtaining the legal right to custody of the child is a long and torturous one. If either parent opposes the grandparent's move to take the child out of such a situation, it can become a bitter and expensive fight. If Child Protective Services becomes involved in the struggle - it can become even more difficult for the grandparents to take possession of the children and protect them. Sometimes Child Protective Services takes aggressive action to prevent family members and grandparents from successfully intervening in parents’ terribly destructive behavior and neglect of the children. And even abuse of the children.
This is where a private attorney can help grandparents overcome the very real obstacles of the bureaucratic and legal system that can prevent effective rescue of their grandchildren.
But I can tell you this: in general, the grandmother or grandfather has the best shot at getting past the first hurdle: STANDING. I will explain more about this in our private, confidential conference in my office. Call for an appointment at 817-335-2037.
This situation has reached crisis proportions in almost every city and town in the country - formerly stable and sober young parents becoming unable to care for their children. And young children left without care, nurturing, guidance, structure. And sometimes without adequate nutrition in situations of filth and even actual physical danger to the child. Family violence of one parent or the other adds an explosive element to this powder keg. And astonishingly, even with deplorable filth, drug use, and family violence, Child Protective Services is often unable to act to protect the children. They may even enter the home, look around, see the filth and neglect, and leave the children with the parent in the same situation in which they found them! Sometimes it is astounding. It is almost always insufficient to cause any real change in the long term conditions in which the children must live.
Grandparents sometimes are forced to watch helplessly in anguish as their young grandchildren go through the tragic lack of care and protection in their fragile formative years, knowing that the children are being exposed to family violence, frequent drug use, and exposure to unsafe persons and circumstances. They watch as they see insufficient or non existent medical care, knowing that they could provide it. They observe serious nutritional inadequacies. They see little to non-existent educational support. And untreated physical and mental health or psychiatric conditions that could permanently scar the child’s development and destroy any hope of a future for that child.
Legally, grandparents have a difficult situation when it comes to what actions they can take through the court system to secure the safety and the well being of the grandchildren they love. Many a grandparent has rescued a grandchild from a household where the parents have become drug addicted. Or have fallen off the deep end and are not functioning as mature, reliable, stable parents. But the path to obtaining the legal right to custody of the child is a long and torturous one. If either parent opposes the grandparent's move to take the child out of such a situation, it can become a bitter and expensive fight. If Child Protective Services becomes involved in the struggle - it can become even more difficult for the grandparents to take possession of the children and protect them. Sometimes Child Protective Services takes aggressive action to prevent family members and grandparents from successfully intervening in parents’ terribly destructive behavior and neglect of the children. And even abuse of the children.
This is where a private attorney can help grandparents overcome the very real obstacles of the bureaucratic and legal system that can prevent effective rescue of their grandchildren.
But I can tell you this: in general, the grandmother or grandfather has the best shot at getting past the first hurdle: STANDING. I will explain more about this in our private, confidential conference in my office. Call for an appointment at 817-335-2037.
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