My name is Dawn Stevenson (Williams). I am seeking an attorney whom is willing to take my case. I wish to pursue a lawsuit against child protective services. I have details on this when needed but to sum it up to see if its of interest to you, I was denied my right for due process amongst other things. My dependency case is now closed and I complied with all services offered to me. My 3 children are now back in my care. However, through out this whole process I was told I should have got paperwork allowing me to fight the accusations made against me which after everything is said and done I now realize I was not. How I found out was through my background check which says there is findings of abuse and neglect on my record in March of 2006. My children were removed in June of 2006 from my ex husbands care after he took my boys from my home without my permission breaking my protection order, I had my daughter in my care yet she was taken as well.
I figured there was a misprint on the March accusations because I had never even heard of this incident I had never spoken to any cps worker and further more was in domestic violence protection shelter at that time. Need I mind you that I am a registered nursing assistant and having these accusations on my record makes me unemployable in my field of work. I went to the cps office on 11/15/07 (after getting a phone call from my employer saying I have until 5 that day to take care of this or id be fired) and spoke to Carol Anderson and asked her about this March accusation and why I have these findings on my record. I asked for the names of the cps worker whom found these findings against me and I was denied the information. I asked for a copy of this and it is now being sent to me yet like I said I have never heard of this March incident at all. She then told me that they combined the March incident with the June incident yet when I told them that the June incident is based on my ex husbands actions they agree with me. Why were my children taken from me in the first place? Cps never came to my home to see how I lived prior to my children being removed…They also were very aware that my ex husband was abusing and stalking me. Why was I not given the opportunity to fight these so called accusations not only for this incident in March (which I never heard of) but also for the time in June. Cps had apparently wrote the letter and instead of sending it to me they simply filed it into my case and some how “forgot” to send it to me. Which I have the proof of via the certified letter that I finally received at the end of October of this year (over one year later and now that my case is closed) How is this right that Cps can just take my children from my care when I was doing everything in my power to protect them??? Why were my rights as a parent taken away from me being the victim of domestic violence and given to my ex husband the perpetrator whom need I mind you is now in prison, Even when I had a protection order stating that he is not to interfere. Why was it ok for cps to go to him to have him sign over my rights? Not only that but they asked him to sign over the rights and I was not even informed of this for almost 2 weeks after! Why was my children and I the ones that had to endure the pain of not being together for almost a year when the biggest crime I commited was leaving my ex husband and calling cps because I was fearful of their well being! Why was I not given my right as an American to fight these accusations made against me! Instead I was guilty until proven innocent. Since this I have had to pay hundreds in child support I lost out on so much precious time with my children, As of 11/15/07 I was fired from my job because of this on my background. Not to mention the impact it had caused my children this has forever changed all our lives and I have completely lost all my faith in the system. I realize not to many attorneys are willing to fight an organization such as CPS however please look at the facts and upon meeting me you will see I am not your typical CPS case. Thank You for your time.
2007-11-19 07:12:40 · 8 answers · asked by Dawn W 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
CPS gets involved for a reason usually. Why didn't you deal with those issues as they came up at the time? CPS don't just take children because they can, they take them for a good reason. Deal with it.
2007-11-19 07:36:57 · answer #1 · answered by Nunyabusiness 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I suggest you invest in a keyboard that does "paragraph breaks"
Get a yellow pages, and start calling up the attorneys there, and seek out their free consultations.
Otherwise, by sending a letter, you will not be judged serious, at east not more serious then the other people who think it is good idea to handle their critical business in person.
Seriously, at the beginning of your notice, see where it says "summing up" - make sure you can summarize in 5 sentences or less. let the attorney ask for details - yours are probably typical for this type of case, and you need not inundate them with details that don't matter at this point.
Finally, think hard about what you want to accomplish - I can only infer what it is, but come right out and say it in the first sentence.
2007-11-19 19:21:22 · answer #2 · answered by Barry C 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dear Dawn,
I have an idea of what you are going through. I went through this with my five children, and each time I went into the hospital to deliver a baby, they put negligence charges on me before I gave birth, mind you. I would like to know how they get away with it too. But my dear, you need to do a spell check on your letter. It's pretty good but I would try to shorten it a bit. It is very painful to have your children removed from you and have your rights violated. It is an appalling system and yet I believe they do it because it means money in their pockets. They should be sued in my opinion. After all the terror that we went through with them over several years. But you should know that I have heard that this practice has now become commonplace. I think it is disgusting, but they keep doing what they want to do to people. That is the terrible situation with this issue. So do keep after them and bring in people to say good things about you on your behalf in court. Don't let the whole thing get placated. But do be careful, because just as they have done this to your record, they could throw the book at you in court. Good luck in finding a good lawyer to represent you.
2007-11-19 15:26:10 · answer #3 · answered by Jackie Smith 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hiring a lawyer for minor legal problems can be expensive, but there are websites like LawGuru, FindLaw and other places where you can get free legal advice. I found this website useful - http://www.uelp.org/freelegal.html
2007-11-21 05:24:01 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depending on your income you may qualify for Legal Aid - check out with the Legal Aid in your area, they may refer you to a lawyer
2007-11-19 15:26:09 · answer #5 · answered by chimpsky_clone 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need an attorney that is going to have the patience to read through tediously long emails.
2007-11-19 15:16:38 · answer #6 · answered by Didgeridude 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need a lawyer that specializes in family law to get started.
2007-11-19 15:18:04 · answer #7 · answered by davidmi711 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
family law/custody attorney or civil rights attorney
2007-11-19 15:16:01 · answer #8 · answered by colley411 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋