Case Help
	The following suggestions are some things you may wish to share with your attorney to possibly help show your innocence. DISCLAIMER: Please note that Protect Our Families.com is not licensed to give legal advice. The below suggestions are merely some ideas you may wish to share with your attorney.

• Attorney
  
  It is very important that you find an aggressive yet compassionate attorney as soon as possible. Many families cannot afford an attorney and sadly there is not much hope for a competent defense in the form of a Public Defender. They are not paid very much and consequently usually put little effort into their cases. We urge you to somehow find the financial means if at all possible. A good attorney is your best hope for the truth to prevail and for you to get your child (or children) back.
  
  We can't stress enough how critical it is to have a privately paid attorney to represent you who will fight hard for your family. The families who have had excellent attorneys have always had the best outcomes. Without an attorney (or with a court-appointed attorney), it is as though you have no voice and DCFS will control everything. If you have an attorney he can bring requests (such as further medical testing and family/relative placement) before a Judge in order for the Judge to possibly go over DCFS and approve those considerations. Cases always go much better when families have a privately paid attorney instead of a court appointed attorney. Not all families are able to prove a medical condition but many are still able to get their children home based on their cooperation with DCFS.
  
  Please email us at support@protectoufamilies.com as we mantain a national attorney referral list.
  
  You could also contact the following advocacy organization who also maintains an attorney referral list.
  
  National Child Abuse Defense & Resource Center
  Kimberly Hart, Executive Director
  P.O. Box 638
  Holland, Ohio 43528
  Phone: 419-865-0513
  Fax: 419-865-0526
  Email: NCADRC@bigfoot.com
  
  When choosing an attorney we recommend that families seeks attorneys who have criminal law experience. Attorneys that only practice family law often work with divorce custody cases and may not have the experience needed to find the evidence needed to prove your innocence. The ideal attorney would be one who practices criminal law as well as juvenile/family law. Criminal attorneys tend to be aggressive and they know that real evidence and proof is needed to substantiate charges.
  
  
• Placement of your child with Family
  
  It is very important to try to find relatives to care for your children, before the 72 hospital hold is over, so they can go from the hospital to the relative's house in order to spare the children the trauma of being placed with strangers in foster care. The ideal short-term solution would be to have relatives, who live in the same state, immediately contact Social Services and request to be considered for getting placement of the children. It is very important that your child be with family who love him and not with strangers. This will allow your child to continue to bond and hopefully not suffer from stranger or disassociative anxiety. Another important benefit is that parents are sometimes allowed more visits with their children as long as they are supervised by the relatives. It's very important to have a good attorney who can work hard to get the children placed with family.
  
  Another possible solution is that Social Services is sometimes willing to allow the children to go home to one parent if the "main focus of suspicion" parent lives elsewhere. They're also more willing to allow the children to come home if another relative would live with the parent in the family home. This can be a short term solution to at least getting the children home as soon as possible.
  
  
• Cooperate with Social Services
  
  We know it is difficult to be cooperative because this agency wrongfully removed your child from your care. It is to your benefit, however, if you can be polite to caseworkers and let them know that you understand they are only trying to help your child and family. You may be certain they are not, but convey this to the social workers anyway. If you show animosity toward caseworkers, it will only make them more aggressive in their actions against your family. It is important you do not get angry or frustrated with caseworkers or they may conclude that you have a problem with anger. So, please cooperate and participate in any classes/counseling they may require. This cooperation may greatly aid in reunifying your family.
  
  
• Cooperate with Foster Care Providers
  
  If you are allowed supervised visitation in the foster provider's home, it is very important that you be very cooperative and try to show appreciation to them for caring for your child. CPS and foster providers will generally try to insist that your child is doing better in their care than he did in yours. As difficult as it is, restrain from criticizing the foster providers. It is critical that you have a friendly relationship with them so they will grant you more visitation appointments in their home. If your visits make the foster providers uncomfortable in any way, they will be less likely to offer additional visits. Not only that, but they will likely speak poorly of you to the social worker. The most important thing is that your child be able to spend as much time with you as possible. Being cooperative with CPS and the foster providers can only help for them to grant you increased visitation which your child so dearly needs.
  
  It is hard to act natural when you know that someone is carefully monitoring you with negative anticipation. As difficult as it is, try to block out these third parties so you can have joyous, quality time with your child. Your child needs you and needs to bond, so please spend your time having loving interactions with your child.
  
  Be certain to provide for all of your child's needs. Supply the foster providers with car seats, diaper bags, clothes, coats, shoes, bedding, toys, etc. Show them that it is important to you that your baby has everything that he needs.
  
  
• Police Interviews
  
  You should discuss with your attorney if you are willing to talk to the police or not. We do believe that honesty is the best policy so if an accident occurred, like the baby was accidentally dropped or fell, we would suggest that you ask your attorney if he felt that you should share that information with the police as well as with Social Services.
  
  Sometimes it is better not to volunteer information to the police and CPS as they will greatly twist any innocent statements you make. It is important to have the actual police and CPS tape-recorded transcripts as it is the only way you can prove what was actually said. Otherwise they will rephrase all of your statements to suit their purposes. Sadly, they are not used to being held to any accountable measure of the real truth.
  
  If you do not know how the injuries occurred, be careful about wondering about the possible scenarios. They will condemn any minor error as a lack of parenting knowledge even though many first-time parents make minor mistakes. They are looking for reasons to criticize you so be careful not to innocently tell them things that they will severely twist to justify their position.
  
  Be careful not to change your responses as to how the injuries occurred. You may have honestly just remembered something that could have caused unknown fractures/injuries but they will record this as a change in your story which they will insist is proof of abuse.
  
  This is the harsh reality - they are not looking for the truth. They do not even care about the truth. In their eyes, you are another case number which means they will get more government money and their goal is to prove that their jobs are needed regardless of the truth. This is sad to say, but CPS is a money-making industry when the incentives are to produce more revenue based on the total number of accusations and adoptions filed.
  
  
• Police Polygraphs
  
  We do recommend taking one privately with a professional tester. This way you will be more at ease while taking the test in a private, unbiased office rather than taking it through the police. Talk to your attorney about this but it is our advice that it is not wise to take one through the police. They generally are used to create negative evidence against the parents as opposed to ruling out abuse. Your emotional sadness due to missing your baby and being wrongfully accused could cause confusing results on a polygraph. The police will say that they want you to take the polygraph in order to rule you "out" as suspects. This is very far from the truth. They will say that in order to get you to do it. For them, the main problem is that there is no proof that your baby was abused (because he wasn't!) and they're hoping that you will create some evidence to support their accusations. They truly want you to take the polygraph in order to rule you "in" as suspects. It generally is best to consult with your attorney and then say that your attorney has advised you not to do it and that you have to respect your attorney's advice.
  
  
• CPS and Police may tape phone calls with you without your knowledge
  
  It is legal in certain states for CPS case workers and the police to tape record any and all calls that are made between you and them, without your prior knowledge. They will also tape record any one they may speak with on the phone who is supportive of your innocence. Be careful when speaking with them on the phone as they may be using the phone to try to twist your statements and conjure evidence against you.
  
  
• Court Hearings
  
  We understand you may be dealing with severe depression as you miss your child greatly. It is very important, however, that you try to present your "normal self" to the Judge and caseworkers. They may try to surmise some of your character from the way you present yourself (i.e., your appearance, speech, and behavior). Somehow you need to convey how much you love your baby but that you are also going to fight for the truth to be revealed about his medical disorder.
  
  
• Case Documentation
  
  It is important that you have every piece of documentation about your case. Request copies of court orders, court hearing transcripts, CPS petitions and records, caseworker notes, foster parents notes, police transcripts, and hospital records. There will probably be a fee for the copies but you need this documentation for your defense.
  
  
• Organize a Records Binder
  
  Organize the following information into a binder:
  
  1) Draw up a calendar and highlight all doctor visits prior to the abuse accusations to show that there was no bruising on these dates.
  2) Include any relevant information per Mom's pregnancy, baby's delivery and birth.
  3) Write down any health problems the baby has had as well as any symptoms that might support OI or other bone disorders. 
  4) Bring any positive parenting or psychological reports for the parents.
  5) Include any character reference letters written by family members and friends.
  6) Include happy photos (in color) of the parents with the baby.
  7) Draw up a family tree chart and include all relatives on both sides of the family with detailed medical history about each person.
  8) Bring any low DEXA scans or low calcium, etc. reports for any relatives.
  
  
• Appeal the Petition that Abuse occurred
  
  You should discuss with your attorney how you plan to handle the petitions that mandate abuse/maltreatment occurred. We also urge you to appeal the finding that maltreatment occurred. Often times the appeal opportunity is of a very short window, like two weeks, so it is important that you show this paper work to your attorney as soon as possible.
  
  
• Camcorder/Tape Recorder
  
  Some suggest carrying a tape recording device or camcorder with you at all times. Inform the CPS workers or Guardian Ad Litem that you are doing this first. Anything that is taped cannot be used as evidence but it can be used to refresh their memory. By filming/taping all interactions with CPS, you are protecting yourself against false documentation by CPS. It will also ensure that the caseworkers will be very careful in what they say and do to you. These efforts will probably irritate CPS so you will need to decide if these are viable options for your particular case.
  
  
• Advocate Witness
  
  You may choose to never attend a meeting alone with a caseworker or Guardian Ad Litem but rather always have a third party in attendance as a witness. You do have a legal right to have an advocate with you. This protects you from false CPS documentation as well. These efforts will probably irritate CPS so you will need to decide if these are viable options for your particular case.
  
  
• Calendar/Diary of Records
  
  It is very wise to document everything (i.e., appointments, meetings) on a personal calendar. We suggest that you keep a diary too. You can be certain that CPS is writing down notes about you and it is important that you keep your own notes in case there are any discrepancies later on.
  
  
• Calendar of Doctor Appointments
  
  If your child was regularly seen by doctors, make a copy of each calendar month and write in the doctor(s) and clinic name. This could help to show that you were not medically neglecting your child and also that no prior doctors noticed anything abnormal about your child. It could also help to show that you did not fail to seek treatment and report medical concerns about your child.
  
  
• Show Your Child's Presence in Your House
  
  Though your child may not be with you physically, show that your home is his true home. Show CPS that a baby/child does live in this house. We recommend that you have many framed pictures of you with your child throughout your house as well as a photo album so that caseworkers can see your child is greatly loved. Even though the baby may be in foster care, keep his toys and baby equipment out as you normally would as it shows that you understand your baby's needs and have everything ready and prepared for his reunification with you.
  
  
• Community Education Classes
  
  Most counties provide child education classes and parent/baby classes that are run through the community and not directly through Social Services. Often the local library will know about these classes. It can help to request that the parents be able to participate in some of the classes. This is beneficial as they can have more time with their child and also be observed by a non-biased child educator.
  
  
• Baby's Schedule
  
  If you kept any notes about the baby's feeding/sleeping schedule as a newborn this could help to show that the baby was happy and healthy during that time. If the baby was happy and then was fussy, that may help to show that an unknown fracture had occurred. Also, if the baby continued to eat regularly that would show that he was not in pain.
  
  
• Opthamology Test - Medical Test Results which prove that abuse did not occur
  
  More than likely the doctor who suspected you of abuse ran multiple tests for the purpose of proving abuse. These tests can actually help your defense when they have normal results. For example, if your child's opthamology/eye exam is normal, that proves the child was never thrown or shaken as it takes very minor force to hemorraghe blood vessels in the eyes. Also, a child with normal bones and multiple fractures would be very likely to have extensive internal damage and bruising. When fractures are the sole injury, this may be indicative of a bone disorder.
  
  
• Character Reference Letters
  
  We recommend you ask friends and family members to write character reference letters on your behalf. Also ask these person to describe how they saw you care for your child. These reference letters could be shared with doctors or the Judge to help give them further insight into your character.
  
  
• Photos and Witnesses that can attest that your child was happy and not in distress
  
  Make a list of persons who can verify that your child was not in pain, bruised, etc. and confirm the dates. These people may be used by your attorney as witnesses for trial. It also helps if you can document your child's health and development through photos and home video footage.
  
  
• Forensic Psychologist and Parenting Psychologist
  
  We recommend that you retain a forensic psychologist who can review your personality for lack of pathology concerning abuse and a parenting psychologist who can evaluate your parenting knowledge and skills. It is important you secure your own psychologists and not ones from Social Services as it is likely that those individuals will be unfairly biased towards the position of Social Services.
  
  This is an example of what you might expect during a psychological evaluation:
  
  Meet with the psychologist individually and then together with spouses. Sometimes the psychologist will observe you with your child too so he can note the appropriate family interaction.
  
  Complete the MMPI personality true/false test - try to complete the answers as you would have before this family tragedy occurred so they can see your normal personality and not the person who is emotionally suffering right now. Be careful to show that you are being honest and do have faults such as "My manners are better at a restaurant than at home - True", etc.
  
  IQ Tests - involving filling in the blanks for missing letters/words, the Rorshac test of your association based on pictures of dots and shapes, spelling questions, math problems, complete the sentence questions, and you may also be shown pictures of people where you have to develop a story.
  
  Parenting questions - such as how do you know the difference between a cry for hunger and a cry for pain, discipline techniques, etc. in order to assess your parenting knowledge.
  
  
• Make your house a safe environment for your child
  
  If you haven't already, make sure that your house is "baby-proofed" for a baby that may be rolling, crawling, pulling up, and walking. Though your child may be in foster care, you need to show that your baby's safety is your top concern and that you have ensured your house has been designed with all of the necessary safety features (i.e., electric outlet plugs, cabinet locks, safety gates). It shows that you are aware of your baby's changing physical needs that effect his environment. It also shows that your house is safe and ready for baby to be reunified to you.
  
  Also your house must always be very clean and neat as any slight mess could be recorded as unfit or an endangerment to your child.
  
  
• OI Care Instructions to Foster Providers
  
  If you know that your baby has OI, it is very important that his care givers are treating him appropriately. Your baby is very fragile and needs special care. Contact the OI Foundation and request pamphlets and videos about how to care for a newborn with OI. Ask your attorney to request this information be shared with Social Services and the foster care providers. Document this request if it is denied by CPS.
  
  
• Safe Exercise for OI child
  
  Inactivity is the worse thing for OI children. Inactivity makes their bones weaker (osteopenic) and more prone to fractures. It's very important to do exercise to help their bones get stronger. Weight bearing exercise, such as walking, is the best thing for OI children as it increases bone mass. It's critical to prevent falls/bumps so if he has a play area you might want to pad the floor with a sleeping bag and put pillows/cushions around the furniture. We also highly recommend that he has water exercise as it's a safe way to exercise all of his muscles and bones without putting any pressure on them. The YMCA has some parent and baby classes that would be great. Just letting the baby kick his legs in the water would help to strengthen them too.
  
  
• Media
  
  Involving the media is something that should be considered very seriously. If Social Services plans to reunify your family, then we recommend that you cooperate fully and not involve the media. If Social Services is intent on terminating your parental rights, however, discuss with your attorney the pros/cons of getting public exposure for your case in the media.
  
  
• Government Officials
  
  You may wish to ask family and friends to write to all state government officials pleading for them to intervene in your case. You may wish to have them include some medical reports that prove that your child is suffering from a bone disorder and not abuse.
  
  
• Resolving your case
  
  Every case will come to a point where the judge will either decide to dismiss the case or to proceed to a juvenile trial to substantiate that the child protective services were needed.
  
  The best options are:
  
  1) Diagnosis by expert doctor and/or positive skin biopsy - case immediately dismissed
  
  2) Continuance for dismissal which is called a "Stay of Adjudication". DCFS is sometimes more willing to consider this when you have a clinical bone disorder diagnosis but were not able to scientifically prove the condition. This usually allows for a 3 to 6 month monitoring period and for the child to be returned home. Determination if DCFS's child protective services was really needed or not is postponed by the Judge until the monitoring period is over. If things go well during this monitoring time it would lead to the case being dismissed.
  
  Example of an agreement for an stay of adjudicaton:
  
  Minnesota Section 260.015: Subd. 2a(8), in that the child is without proper parental care because of the emotional, mental or <>, or state of immaturity of the child's parent, guardian or other custodian.
  
  Subd. 2a(9), in that the child is one whose occupation, behavior, <>, environment or associations are such as to be injurious or dangerous to the child or others.
  
  A Minnesota family agreed to a stay of adjudication based on the family's admission to a limited portion of Subd. 2a(9). They agreed that "Child protective services were needed because their child's medical condition was one which was injurious to himself". Additionally, the Judge made it clear in the transcript that all of the partied accepted their admission to the limited portion of 2a(9).
  
  If a family tries to reach terms through negotiations they should tell DCFS that they will only consider agreeing to a statute that mentions the child's injuries may be due to a medical condition.
  
  3) "Adjudication" - Determination/court finding that DCFS's protection services was needed - is entered into the court record. Families and DCFS will often negotiate terms for adjudication in lieu of going to juvenile trial. Often times DCFS will support a family reunification plan and the child is usually returned home immediately, relative supervision ends, etc. DCFS may insist on additional monitoring before parent's custody is reinstated.
  
  Often times the family can reach an adjudicated negotiation based on a lesser admission. An example of this is when the family agrees that child protective services were needed because 1) their house was an unsafe environment (such as if this is where accidental injuries occurred or if there were older children that might have accidentally treated the baby too roughly, etc.)
  
  4) Go to juvenile trial - if the family wins, the case is dismissed and child comes home immediately. If the family loses, DCFS could still support a family reunification plan, or sadly they might pursue TPR - termination of parental rights.
  
  Note: It's very important to have good attorneys who will fight to get your case resolved and your children home. Too often families rely on court-appointed attorneys and sadly it frequently results in termination of parental rights. The families then try to find an appeal attorney but it is much harder to win an appeal. It is much more wise to use all of your resources to reach an adjudicated negotiation with acceptable terms or to properly prepare for the juvenile trial and retain expert medical witnesses to testify.
  
  There are two main ways to prove the truth - through medical evidence and positive parenting/psychology reports.