Category: Criminal Charges
-
Does “Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child” Still Apply in Michigan? Understanding When Discipline Becomes Child Abuse
Disciplining Children Under Michigan Law: What Parents Need to Know In today’s legal landscape, physically disciplining a child can lead to serious consequences like criminal charges, CPS investigations, and even loss of parental rights. Michigan law allows parents to use reasonable physical discipline, but the line between discipline and abuse is razor-thin. What one parent…
-
Anticipatory Neglect in Michigan CPS Cases – When a Parent’s Past Impacts Future Rights
Michigan courts use the doctrine of anticipatory neglect to evaluate how a parent’s past conduct with one child may impact that parent’s rights to another child. It allows courts to look at a parent’s treatment of one child as evidence of how they may treat siblings, or even future children. What Is Anticipatory Neglect? If…
-
How to Terminate a Guardianship of a Minor Child in Michigan
In Michigan, guardianship gives a non-parent legal authority over a minor child. Guardianship of a minor child can be established voluntarily, through a parent’s consent, or involuntarily by court order when a parent is unable to provide proper care. Guardianship is not necessarily permanent, and if you are seeking to end a guardianship, you should…
-
Neglectful Parent v. Incorrigible Child: What the decision in In Re D. V. Lange tells us
When a child’s mental health needs escalate, parents may face choosing between household safety and neglect allegations. Michigan courts are often asked to decide where that line is drawn—particularly when a parent has exhausted treatment options but still cannot safely bring a child home. The case discussed below addresses this exact dilemma and clarifies how…
-
The Cops Think I Hurt my Child! What Happens Now?
There are many reasons why the cops would show up at someone’s house and make the assumption a child is at risk of abuse or neglect. Perhaps the neighbors overheard an argument and called them. Or maybe a teacher saw a bruise on your child’s arm and made an assumption. It could even have been…
-
Do Parents Get Into Trouble With CPS When Their Kids Break The Law?
Do you remember the Jamarion Lawhorn case? The young boy from Kent County who, after years of living in a violently abusive home, stabbed another little boy on a playground in the hopes that he would be electrocuted. Young Jamarion had no idea that Michigan didn’t have a death penalty, so he may have to…
-
Should You Use a Court Appointed Attorney in a CPS Case? (Pt 1)
Let’s start this article out with a nugget of truth, shall we? We understand that being able to choose your own attorney is a privilege, and not everyone can afford that option. But something else we understand, is that when you don’t hire a defense attorney and just take whatever the court gives you, you…
-
Rare Medical Condition, or Child Abuse? How Can You Tell? (Pt 1)
This question has been the source of more controversy than you can imagine over the years! As doctors, medical experts, prosecutors and defense attorneys fight it out in courtrooms across the nation, this question is the one that they keep coming back to, over and over. Is it child abuse? Or is it a rare…
-
Choose Your Relationships Wisely, or CPS May Get Involved!
Amie L. Messer, a mother from Monroe, Michigan, has been sentenced to jail after being convicted of Second Degree Child Abuse for allowing her boyfriend, Mark Osborn, to repeatedly abuse her young son. The boy, who was 5 years old at the time, sustained repeated, severe beatings that lacerated his intestines, broke his collarbone, and…
-
Tragic Death of 1-Year-Old Will NOT Result in Charges!
A few months ago in February, there was a tragedy in Montcalm County, Michigan. A 1-year-old girl wandered out into her family’s backyard, where rain and melting snow had created puddles and patches of standing water. As KidsHealth points out, a young child can drown in as little as 2 inches of water, so it…