Q: The father of my childern lost custody of my childern to ocs, they didnt call me to pick up my kids
Now ocs is saying my house needs to be cleared to get my kids back. There was an incident that happened with the father and his new gf, and the officer involved instead of taking them into custody wrote an ocs report. My childern were not present in that altercation. The following morning I went to the courthouse to obtain a restraining order, I was denied the emergency order and currently have a court date for a permanent order against the father and his family. My question is what can I do to get my childern back asap? Thank you
A:
There is no simple answer to your question, other than the following general principles.
1. Make contact with the social worker and cooperate with OCS to get yourself and anyone else in your home checked and cleared.
2. Unless you can afford a private attorney, submit a request to the court for a public defender to be appointed for you in the CINA case. You should have received a copy of the Petition which was filed by OCS. It will have the case name and number that you need to use for that request. Until you have legal counsel you can work with OCS, but do not agree to any court findings.
3. Attend all meetings and hearings and advocate for yourself and the children.
4. Once you have an attorney, have him/her determine whether you need to file a custody case in addition to the DV case.
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