Q: Are CPS workers allowed to refuse to give a parent a UA if they ask for one?
My son was in the care of someone else while I was at home packing our belongings to flee from a bad situation that I did not want him around. While he was with the other individual he ingested narcotics and almost died. I met him and the person providing care for him at the hospital and the next morning my CPS worker told me she would be giving custody to his father who I had concerns about my son's safety with and refused to give me a UA at the hospital and then proceeded to blame me and then forced me to leave the hospital. I have only seen my son three times in the past six months and he is with his dad who is actively using drugs. I have have proof of all this but cannot afford a lawyer. I am being treated very unfairly and am losing sight of any hope. I have always been my son's sole provider and we have never been away from each other for more than three days before this happened. I was never given a service plan or reunification plan from the CPS worker. Trial is December 2nd
A: This is too complicated to figure out based on your brief synopsis. You need to contact an Attorney who can both review your details of what happened and review the court records. A reunification plan is only when there is a juvenile court proceeding and in a juvenile court proceeding you would be entitled to a court appointed Attorney. So this may well be a regular custody proceeding and there won't be a reunification plan and you don't get a court appointed Attorney. You need to figure out how to hire an Attorney. Consider calling the Oregon State Bar and asking about the modest means program or if this case is in the Portland Area you may qualify for services offered by St. Andrew's legal Services which has funding so they can offer a sliding scale fee based on your income. The Oregon State Bar also has a lawyer referral service that will at least get you an initial consultation for $35.00.
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