Q: Is there anything I can do about DCFS taking "protective custody" last week?
The assistant States attorney tried to trick us out of the hearing, then tried to threaten us then tried to have our children's attorney talk us out of the hearing, we weren't granted access to the paperwork they had we weren't assigned attorneys still aren't and no court recorder present so DCFS isn't following what the judge said because he was too vague and didn't set exactly what the guidelines were. So DCFS has interpreted it the way that benefits them and isn't allowing us visits because they have protective custody now and I don't know who to contact or what I can do about it until we go to court again
A: This is the covid world now. It is not operating very effectively but everyone is learning as we go along. As for visits, dcfs pre covid only had to give you a minimum of one hr. Per week, generally. Now they are doing it on facetime, zoom, whatever, because people cannot be seeing each other in person right now. Only emergencies are being heard. Lack of visitation is not likely to be viewed as an emergency. You were just in court last week and dcfs needs to have time to arrange things. These days most things are recorded without a court reporter in the back of the courtroom. Dcfs has the same guidelines to follow in every case. Usually, the judge is letting you know in court what their rules are. You are correct that unless you hire a private attorney that does dcfs cases, you are at the mercy of the caseworker. I am not sure why a private lawyer was not appointed to you.
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