Category: Removal From Home
-
What Michigan Judges Consider at a Termination of Parental Rights Hearing: A Guide for Families in Lansing and Surrounding Counties
When a termination of parental rights (TPR) hearing takes place in a Michigan court, the judge’s decision can permanently sever the legal rights of a parent to their child. In places like Lansing, and across Mid-Michigan, these hearings are not taken lightly. Judges weigh numerous factors based on the best interests of the child when…
-
CPS Petitioned The Court to Have my Kids Taken Away! What Happens Now? (Pt 2)
Hi there and welcome back to this convo about what happens when CPS petitions the court to have your children taken away in Michigan. For a parent, the thought that a government agency can simply step in and break up your family without warning is terrifying. After all, who else can do that besides a…
-
Kids in Foster Care (And Their Parents) Really Struggle Over The Holidays!
There are loads of things that make the Christmas holidays special. Getting together with family. Decorating the tree and baking cookies with your kids. Snuggling up with your family, everyone in their pjs, to watch a favorite holiday movie. If you think about it, you’ll realize that being with family is central to the holidays.…
-
Foster Families Face Unique Issues That Many Biological Families Don’t Encounter (Pt 1)
For most biological parents who are only raising their own kids, they decide what they want their children’s lives to look like, and they base their rules and family policies on that projection. “Only organic food”, “an emphasis on education”, “must speak a second language” or “limits on screen time” are good examples. You get…
-
Unhappy in a Good Foster Home? Why Would That be?
Imagine yourself with the people you love. They’re flawed, certainly, and they sometimes do dumb things. But they’re family and you love them. You would do anything for them, and they’re the people you turn to when life gets crazy or overwhelming, or you just need a shoulder to cry on. Now imagine that all…
-
Termination Of Parental Rights in Michigan: Voluntary vs. Involuntary
Termination of parental rights means the complete and total severance of the parent-child relationship. It is absolute and permanent. A parent loses not just the right to care for and raise their child, but the right to maintain a relationship or have any contact with their child, without prior permission. Essentially, in the eyes of…
-
CPS Relative Placement – What Are The Facts?
Relative Placement refers to when Child Protective Services removes a child or children from their parent’s care, and places them into the care of relatives. Michigan law requires that the courts and CPS give serious consideration to any and all viable relative placement options. This is because relative placement is almost always preferred to traditional…
-
Mom Tasered For Attacking Police After CPS Takes Child
This is one of those tragic stories. The kind that starts with a frightening domestic assault and escalates when a mother tries to protect her child from a perceived threat. Unfortunately, the ending is a lose/lose situation, full of unintended consequences. Especially for a 30-year-old mother who was assaulted, and then lost her child, and…