The Department of Children, Youth and Families is the state department charged with looking out for the welfare of children in the State of Rhode Island. If you become involved with the system you need to consult an attorney immediately. This is a state agency which acts to protect children. It has the power to petition for temporary custody, removal from the home and even to petition for the revocation of parental rights.
Although not a criminal charge, you will be arraigned in Family Court. Neglect is fairly easy to understand. It means what the word implies. Dependency on the other hands means that you are charged with failing to protect a child which is legally dependent on you.
At the extreme your parental rights can be revoked by the court. The child may have already been removed from the home. DCYF generally will create a case plan which you may agree to as a contract. If you conform with this plan the child will probably be returned to the home. Parts of the plan may seem severe such as the removal of a live in adult from the home. You should never sign such a case plan without the advice of an attorney.
First you have not lost legal custody of your child. What it does is gives DCYF the right to determine the future welfare of the child. This may include removal from the home. At the very least it gives DCYF the right to evaluate the home condition. Your cooperation with DCYF is required.
Not every complaint to DCYF results in a court petition. DCYF will investigate complaints of abuse and neglect. These complaints will result in a founded or unfounded decision. But a file has been created. In the future if the court gets involved these investigations are reported to the court as contacts even though they all might have been unfounded. This is not too early to be represented by an attorney. In severe cases DCYF can get an emergency petition which gives them the right to remove the child from the home until a court hearing.
Remember that DCYF is a children's advocate. If a juvenile is charged with a crime your attorney can work with DCYF many times to come up with a plan which can result in avoiding your child's incarceration at the training school.
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E-mail to Jan W. Head
Jan W. Head, Attorney At Law - 1345 Warwick Avenue - Warwick, RI 02888 - Tel: 401-463-9151