(Copy and paste the link above into your web browser for a YouTube video on this subject) Due to COVID-19, there’s been a lot of issues that have arisen lately with DCF cases. The disease has complicated things, as there have been disputes about whether a kid is at too high risk of contracting the […]

In marriages, it is not uncommon for couples to have conflicting views about their children participating in sports. Such disputes can be based on factors like finances, time constraints, and concern about injury. With divorce these disagreements can be magnified and lead to litigation and addition emotional upset. The best way to avoid such problems […]

Even with intact families, there are often conflicts over what seem to be minor issues like “what’s for dinner?” However, in divorce and high conflict custody cases parenting styles may come into major disagreement arising from differences in religion, medication, sports, etc. Often parents cannot compromise and request that a judge get involved in what […]

In part, a mandated reported who in his or her professional capacity has “reasonable cause” to believe that a child is suffering physical or emotional injury that results from either (1) abuse inflicted upon the child which causes harm or substantial risk of harm to the child’s health or welfare( includes sexual abuse); (2)neglect( includes […]

If DCF decides to place children away from the parents or guardians DCF policy is supposed to look for “family first” as placement such as grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins( also to a certain extent family friends, teachers etc.).  The reason is that the transition will be easier for the child.  You should at least […]

Talking to social workers, court investigators and GAL’s is stressful.  They are looking at you like you are on stage and looking to see if you are a loving, stable and thoughtful parent. A few hints are:  keep focus on children not your or significant other or ex if you need to make focus on […]

There is relatively new law regarding children in foster care or residential treatment.  There is a presumption that child should go to the same school( school of origin) and DCF has a meeting to make this determination.   Parents and children should have a voice as many times DCF will aim for having child go […]

As you probably guessed the answer is YES! Be very careful what you post. I have seen people claim to have no money in front of a judge and be confronted with Facebook posts of expensive vacations or new cars. I have seen many cases where one parent badmouths the other ( and sometimes the […]

DCF has had very bad publicity recently. Whether the news about DCF is accurate or not, it has changed the landscape of how DCF is handling cases. DCF is much more likely to be more actively involved in families’ lives and the courts have seen a huge increase in the amount of Care and Protections […]

As most people are aware there are a lot of concerns about social media with issues of privacy and concerns about who you and your children might be “friending”.   In today’s legal climate there are a lot of legal risks associated with the internet that people are not aware of.  It is a fairly common […]