Category: CPS Investigation
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Understanding the Role of the Office of the Child Advocate in Michigan
Navigating the complexities of Michigan’s child welfare system can be daunting for families. The Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) plays a crucial role in ensuring children’s rights and well-being are upheld. This independent state agency is tasked to investigate complaints and make recommendations to improve Michigan’s child welfare (CPS) system. Investigating Complaints A complaint…
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Defending Against CPS Allegations of Shaken Baby Syndrome: Insights from the Michigan Supreme Court – People v. Lemons
Children’s Protective Services (CPS) cases can be extremely stressful and have life altering consequences for parents. When allegations of child abuse, such as Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS), arise, the stakes are even higher. The Michigan Supreme Court case, People v. Lemons, provides valuable insights into defending against CPS allegations and accusations. This blog explores key…
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What Happens After Someone Reports Child Abuse to The Authorities? (Pt 1)
We do all sorts of things in our daily lives, without ever stopping to wonder what happens after the small role we played in the process. Throw something into your trash can, and at the end of the week, set it out at the curb and never give it a second thought? Have you ever…
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CPS Petitioned The Court to Have my Kids Taken Away! What Happens Now? (Pt 3)
Welcome back and thanks for joining us. We’ve been talking about what happens when CPS petitions the court to have your children taken away, and what you can do about it. But before we continue, we just want to remind all our readers of one very important thing, and that is: Don’t run away with…
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What Happens When a Mandated Reporter Calls CPS to Report Suspected Abuse? (Pt 1)
Covid19 has changed a lot of things. For one – there are way fewer calls coming in to CPS from mandated reporters, as there are considerably fewer opportunities for those people to interact with children and notice signs of what they suspect may be abuse or neglect. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t mandated reporters…
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Why You Should ALWAYS Challenge a Report of ‘Suspected’ Abuse From CPS.
Here in Michigan, when a mandated reporter, or even just a concerned citizen suspects that a child might be the victim of abuse or neglect, they call CPS and make a report. At that point, a CPS worker reaches out to the family, either by phone or in person (depending on the severity of the…
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CPS is Trying to Terminate my Parental Rights! What Happens Now? (Pt 2)
Welcome back and thanks for joining us again for this discussion about what happens when CPS tries to terminate your parental rights, and what you can do about it. In our previous article we looked at what your first steps should be when CPS threatened to take your children (or even if they already have!)…
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One Single Incident Can Result in Long-Term CPS Involvement
Life is full of choices, and every single one of them has a consequence. Some of those consequences are tiny, and the impact they’ll have on your life in the long term are negligible, like cheating on your diet by eating a handful of chips. It may derail your weight loss for a day, but…
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Mom’s False Positive Drug Screen Can Result in Newborns Being Taken by CPS! (Pt 2)
Welcome back and thanks for joining us again for this discussion about how false positive drug screenings of new moms can result in their babies being taken by CPS. As we mentioned in the previous article, this is a major problem in Alabama, which just happens to be the state that leads the U.S. in…
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Why is Michigan CPS Trying to Take my Kids Away From me?
We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog talking about what to do when CPS workers show up on your doorstep, or how to handle it when someone accuses you of child abuse. But one of the subjects we haven’t covered in as much detail, is why CPS would want to take your kids…