CYS Dependency Petition

[mlf]

My question involves child abuse or neglect in the State of: PA

I need legal advice about CYS in PA!

My child was taken from me on wednesday, via an emergency dependency petition filed on wednesday morning.

I first had contact with CYS on tuesday night.

The caseworker was investigating a report from the police that our house was messy. The police were there because they were dispatched along with paramedics after my husband's sister called them because my husband had accidentally ingested one of my anxiety pills along with his medication, and the medications reacted. Emergency room report reflects this.

I had an open case with CYS beginning in 2009 which was closed in 2010. I moved out of the family home with my child per court order due to the fact that my husband was not recieving treatment for his bipolar disorder, and had suffered an episode of mania. Also, my husband was smoking marijuana at the time. The Judge ordered that my husband have no visitation with our daughter until he produced a clean urine. He failed to do so. They closed the case after i left our home and went to a homeless shelter with our child per court order.

I was kicked out of the homeless shelter after a year because i had forgotten to turn in a bottle of my antidepressant medication to the housing director.

I had nowhere to go and went back to our home. My husband had since completed an intensive in-patient dual diagnosis program adressing both his bipolar and marijuana usage.

The day after CYS investigated our home, and assured us that the complaint was unsubstantiated, i recieved a call that i needed to come to the office immediately with my daughter. When i arrived, they informed me that i was a danger to my child's welfare because i had allowed my child to interact with my husband, her father.

When i told them that my husband had recieved treatment, and was and has been completely stable, they said that i had severe mental problems for believing such a thing, and that i was in no way able to care for my child!

and here is my question: CYS has said that i am lying about his drug use - when i pointed out that he had passed a drug test 2 weeks prior at his job - they scoffed and said anybody can pass a drug test, and that i needed to stop lying!!!!

They said that i was lying about his bi-weekly therapy, and his psychiatrist. When i told them he would be willing to sign releases about his medical treatment, they laughed at me and told me that my judgement was clouded, after all, i had admitted to smoking marijuana one time in the past month!!!

These people took our toddler from us. Their reasoning is that because the judge ordered in a court order, a year ago, that my husband not have visitation because of drug use, that my moving back to our home shows i am mentally incapacitated and cannot be unsupervised around my baby!

We were scheduled for a hearing yesterday. We came 5 minutes late (there was an accident which shut down traffic) and the caseworker laughed at us as she said that maybe next time we should try to come in time if we ever want to have custody of our child again.

They took my baby and i need to get her back. Is it legally okay for them to take her and cite the reasoning as the fact that i "ignored the judge's ruling"!!!!

thank you so much. my heart is broken right now.

[NdK1009]

Does the court order that the CYS is citing have an expiration date? Does it say that if your husband complies with the order, without documenting it with the court, that they will accept that? If your answer is "no", then CYS can take your child because there was a valid order in place saying that she was not to be near your husband. Period. If your husband was complying with the judge's requirements, then it was yours and his responsibility to get the judge's order cancelled BEFORE you and your daughter moved back in with your husband.

In your current situation, you need to get his compliance documented and have the order revoked. You really should meet with an attorney to figure out how to get your daughter back (and how to keep her).

[mlf]

Does the court order that the CYS is citing have an expiration date? Does it say that if your husband complies with the order, without documenting it with the court, that they will accept that? If your answer is "no", then CYS can take your child because there was a valid order in place saying that she was not to be near your husband. Period. If your husband was complying with the judge's requirements, then it was yours and his responsibility to get the judge's order cancelled BEFORE you and your daughter moved back in with your husband.

In your current situation, you need to get his compliance documented and have the order revoked. You really should meet with an attorney to figure out how to get your daughter back (and how to keep her).

The court order was lifted in the spring of 2010. I assumed this meant it went away - is this not true?

I am meeting with an attorney wednesday morning. I am just trying to get an answer before i meet with them to give my mind some peace.

One more question - i signed an affadavit of destitution so i will be meeting with a court appointed attorney. Are the attornies biased, I have been researching CYS policies and dependency court procedings, I just need to know if I will need to bring this information to the attorney or if he / she will be genuinely on my side.