How a Child Protection Lawyer Protects Your Child’s Rights

For every parent or guardian who is pushing a case at family court, you need to hire a reliable child protection lawyer. These are legal representatives who are often government-paid and assigned by the court for cases involving kids.

When a case involving children is involved, the Children’s Aid Society gets involved and launches an investigation. If the family is investigated, then you have the right to hire a lawyer for your child's and family’s protection.

According to Section 40(1) of the Child and Family Services Act, CFSA has the eligibility to start a court proceeding as permitted. The CFSA places the best interests of the kids as the priority in any court proceedings that occur.

Why Families Need Lawyers

It can be stressful to be investigated by the CFSA because they tend to question the ability of the parent or guardian to provide for their kids. When you know you have strong evidence, there’s no need to worry, but having a lawyer ready will make you feel safer.

In general, the CFSA will choose to work with parents to create a proper plan for the protection of the kids. Before anything else, a social worker is also sent to check on the family and the kids. CFSA is working to protect families more than taking the kids away when necessary.

Once the CFSA has cleared the family of any mistreatment or harm against the kids, they will file a report backing the family. You can then take the case to court with your child protection lawyer to claim your legal rights.

How Child Protection Cases Work

Just like how criminal court proceedings work, child protection cases have two parts. The first one is determining whether the person accused of child abuse or inflicting harm on the kids is innocent or guilty.

This is where the evidence is gathered, presented, and defended in court. Each party needs to prove their case, whereas the defendant needs to effectively defend itself. The accused party also needs to gather enough evidence in time to convict the perpetrator of the crime against the kids.

Then the second process is sentencing, where the court will decide whether or not the defendant is guilty or not. If you have a good family lawyer, then they will be able to convince the judge to make a ruling that will make life safer for the kids.

Protecting the Child

The court can rule on the proper disposition for the kids when they find that there is a need for their protection. This will happen as long as the proper evidence is presented and the legal representatives have properly argued the child protection case in court.

You don't have to worry about losing connection with your kids because the court encourages those with emotional ties to the kids, like relatives, siblings, guardians, and other members of their extended families, to look after them.

Whatever the plan is for the protection of the kids, those within the family or those that the child trusts the most will always be included in it. That’s why, when you fight for child protection, you will always find that the court will side with providing the best environment for the kids.

Exemptions in Ruling

It’s also crucial for parents and guardians to consider the exemptions that the county could make. Different kinds of rulings could happen, such as the court placing the kids under the care of the parent or guardian but with supervision for 3 to 12 months.

In other cases, the kids can also be placed under the CFSA’s care for at most 12 months or for a specified period. The kids will then be returned to the parent or guardian after the specified period is over.

If any of the previous options are unavailable, the kids can also be placed under the custody of one or more persons with their consent. This happens when other previous arrangements are not met or cannot be met by the direct family, relatives, or extended family.

Child Protection Plan

The CFSA is expected to create a child protection plan beforehand for the well-being of the child involved in the case. The court will prioritize looking into this plan, and the parents and guardians also have the legal right to gain copies.

This plan is expected to show information about the services the CFSA can provide for the child and family. It will have details about what the expectations are from the parents or guardians who are taking care of the kids. 

Furthermore, the CFSA’s child protection plan can also include statements on why the kids should or should not remain under the care of their parent or current guardian. There should also be a detailed description of the arrangements or schedules involving the cultural identity, traditions, and heritage of the kids.

Recognizing the Parents

The court will always give recognition to the parents of the kids involved in child protection cases while in a proceeding. Being the parent is a broad term in the books of the CFSA, which means that it extends beyond the natural mother or father of the kids.

When individuals who weren’t recognized as parents beforehand appear in court, they can always seek a remedy to be added to the party. The court will review this and add the name to the proceeding as needed.

In some cases, for the native persons involved, representatives from the native community to which the kids belong can also be added to the party for the proceeding. It all depends on who presents themselves as a parent or which community has the closest connection with the kids legally.

Safety and Security of the Children

The court will always rule for the benefit of the kids involved in cases. Remember that proceedings are done to ensure that what’s best for the kids is decided in the end. Many child protection cases can be very difficult and confusing to handle.

The CFSA is there to aid the child and the family in following the proper procedures while the court case is ongoing. You can get great advice from hiring a trusted child protection lawyer, and they can also give you good suggestions on what decisions to make to strengthen your case in court.