Will Protective Services Take Your Children if You Go Into Rehab
If a parent of young children goes into rehab, will protective services take her children? Can she leave them with a responsible relative while she completes rehab?
Re: Will Protective Services Take Your Children if You Go Into Rehab
Going into rehab does not automatically trigger a review of your situation by protective services. If you have an open case, but your kids are still in your custody, you should be able to arrange to leave them with an appropriate caregiver during rehab, but should speak to your attorney (if you have one) and case worker.
If there is no open case, then the caregiver arrangement is not likely to come to the attention of protective services. Further, it's not child neglect or abandonment to leave your children with an appropriate caregiver, even if you are going to be absent for a considerable amount of time, so as long as the caregiver is appropriate and nothing untoward happens during your absence, protective services would have no legal basis to get involved.