For most parents, providing a safe and happy home for their children is their highest priority. However, as any Dallas child custody lawyer knows, not all parents have the ability or the drive to care for their children. Child abandonment or mistreatment can happen for many different reasons, and Child Protective Services may have to step in to protect the child’s best interests.
Recently, a Dallas mother had to appear before a judge regarding the custody of her eight children. She had previously left the children, who are between the ages of 2 and 12 years old, in the middle of the night, and never returned. Two women from a church took the children to a fire station, and from there, they were placed in three different foster homes. The judge ordered that the children should stay in the foster homes while CPS investigates.
CPS investigators indicated that currently, the mother does not have a stable home environment for the children. While the goal in this situation is to bring the mother and children back together, the mother will have to go through alcohol and drug counseling, as well as parenting classes, first. For now, she is allowed to visit with the children with supervision.
According to reports, the children’s father, who lives out of state, consented to the current custody arrangement. CPS investigators are looking into whether a relative in Florida would be an appropriate temporary home for all of the children together.
Child Protective Services is most recognizable as the service that intervenes when there are allegations of child abuse. However, CPS may also get involved in cases where parents neglect children as well. Where the neglect is serious and the children may be in immediate danger CPS may remove the children from the home temporarily, and if the neglect or abuse is severe, CPS could seek termination of parenting rights altogether.
Source: nbcdfw.com, “Eight Abandoned Children to Remain in Foster Care,” Kendra Lyn, May 10, 2013