Fight back against DYFS with a good attorney and win
98Unfortunately, too many try to go war against DYFS and lose. The worst part is that, for most of them, it didn't have to happen. Without good legal advice, many people create the evidence that will be used against them. Since DYFS has been known to attack parents of lower socio-economic status, many cannot afford quality legal representation once the case reaches court. With the case mishanlded from the start, the case drags on. For some, finishing the marathon that is a DYFS case proves to be too much. As a result, the children are permantely taken away from the parents. In some cases, parental rights may be terminated. Hopefully, this article helps at least one parent avoid this devastaing, but common scenario.
Fight back right away
Most of the time, DYFS does not just show up at your door to take your kids away and hand you court papers. Quite often, an allegation is received and they start an investigation. The vast majority of parents in this situation do not get legal representation even though they are entitled to have an attorney help them deal with DYFS. As a result, they wind up creating the evidence that is eventually used against them.
Dealing with DYFS on your own can be really tough no matter how you try to handle it. They may inspect your house, meet with your children, interview you, ask you to undergo a number of evaluations as well as talking to neighbors and school teachers. In other words, they are looking to build a case against you. Why? It's tough to say exactly, but I view DYFS as a type of law enforcement organization and most law enforcement organizations that I have dealt with assume guilt first and then look for ways to prove it. As a result, denying the allegations could just make things worse.
If you just give in to DYFS, anything you say can and will be used against you. For example, they may investigate an allegation such as child abuse and quickly rule it out. However, during the allegation, they may uncover another issue through interviews of the parents and the children such as substance abuse. As far as DYFS is concerned, any drug or alcohol use may be considered substance abuse. As a result, you may now be ordered to undergo substance abuse evaluations and treatment. For the rest of the case, you will have your own statements constantly used against you.
DYFS can also lull you into a false sense of security so that by the time you realize you have a problem, it is already too late. For example, DYFS can come to your house to investigate an allegation which is quickly determined to be unfounded. As a result, they leave and it is over. You don't need an attorney right? But then, days, weeks or months later, they come back. Maybe you are having a fight with a family member, an ex-spouse, your child's school or a neighbor. Someone is calling DYFS on you over and over again. With each visit, tensions get hire and DYFS collects more evidence against you. Eventually, enough evidence is received for DYFS to recommend services or file a court case.
The second DYFS comes to your house, you have the right to have an attorney help you. If you don't anything you do or say can and will be used against you. Much is a double-edged sword. If you kick DYFS out of your house and do not cooperate, you may be facing a court case within a few days. Should you cooperate, your statements and actions can be everything that DYFS needs to take your children away.
An attorney stands as a buffer between you and DYFS. With quality representation, no one will even think about bullying you. Everything you say or do will be monitored and controlled by the attorney. In fact, the attorney should do most, and in some cases, all of the communicating for you. This will prevent you from saying the wrong thing. The attorney will also work with the Deputy Attorney General (DAG) who is the prosecuting attorney that represents DYFS. An attorney negotiating with the DAG can quickly get the case dismissed for lack of evidence.
Services (aka “the system”)
Quite often, the evidence uncovered by DYFS is not enough to remove your children right away. However, DYFS will demand that you undergo a number of services. These include substance abuse evaluation and treatment, psychiatric evaluations, parenting classes, marriage counseling, anger management and any number of other treatments. Worse yet, they may demand that you go to their people who may be just as biased against you as DYFS is. This is where some real evidence is generated.
I have no respect for the doctors that perform their psychiatric evaluations; at least the ones I have seen. In my opinion, they are often “DYFS hit men” who constantly see the worst in people and look to help DYFS take children away. There are only a handful of them and I suspect that this is how they make most, if not all, of their money. I'd like to see one of these hit men write a positive report because I haven't seen one yet.
One service may lead to another which may then lead to several more. It may seem like it will never end. When it does end, it may end in a DYFS case being filed against you due to your drug problem, your mental illness or some other “problem” that was uncovered during these “services”. Congratulations, you are knee deep in the system and it may be hard to get out. Calling an attorney right away can avoid all of these services and keep you out of the system all together.
If services cannot be avoided, your attorney can fight to make sure that any services you have to undergo are limited and that you choose what you want to do. For example, I had a case where DYFS wanted my clients to undergo six different services with agencies that DYFS choose. I got in the case and I took that down to one evaluation with our people. A few weeks later: case closed.
It's never too late to get a good attorney
If you were smart enough to call an attorney right away, odds are that you can get DYFS off your back fairly quickly. Want even better news? It should probably cost you less than a thousand dollars to get an attorney to help you. This is because there is no court appearances which take up a substantial amount of the attorney's time. The attorney should be able to make the entire case go away without much work and thus, with little cost.
If you are now facing a DYFS court case, the sooner you get a good attorney involved, the better. Quite often, I am able to speed up cases so that my clients get their children back within months instead of over a year. While this is much more expensive, the shorter time frame keeps down costs. On the other hand, I have had people call me that have been dealing with a DYFS case for over six months with less than adequate representation. When I ask what has been done, all too often the answer is the same: nothing.
While its never too late to get a good attorney, it may be more difficult for an attorney to come into a case at the last second. First, the attorney has to review the case to see what has been done or what has not been done. Second, it is usually more expensive to fix a mistake (or many mistakes) than it is to prevent it. In addition, the multitude of mistakes will make the case drag out and thus become more expensive. Furthermore, the chances of obtaining a good result will be lessened because keys moves were not made from the beginning. However, when everything is on the line, a fighting chance is better than no chance.
Forget the law suit, concentrate on winning now
Too many people want to sue DYFS. I'm not a plaintiff-civil attorney, so I cannot give much information as to how to go about this but I can say that you should not put the cart before the horse. Focus on getting the money together to win your case. So many people call me about filing a law suit against DYFS before they even have any thought about winning the case they are facing now. This is irrational thinking driven by emotion.
Survive the marathon
A DYFS case is sometimes like a marathon. Even with a good attorney, it could last for a long time. Many people get frustrated and without a good person to lean on, it can feel like you are by yourself. A good attorney will be able to handle the range of emotions you will have and keep you in check throughout the case. Being a good attorney is more than just courtroom strategy. It is about being there for the client to make sure they can get through with the case.
Conclusion
Battling DYFS isn't easy. As I have made rather clear, fighting DYFS and winning starts with hiring a good New Jersey DYFS attorney. The sooner a good attorney is hired, the sooner you can get DYFS out of your life. Every case is different so there is no set strategy I can provide here. Instead, if you hired the right attorney, he or she will work with you to develop a winning strategy. All too often, people have a New Jersey DYFS attorney that has no plan. Of course, you must also follow the plan that your attorney lays out. If you do that, your odds of winning your case will increase.
For more information about Jef Henninger, Esq, visit http://www.njdyfsattorney.com
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why isnt there a a policy to what dyfs can do or not to do
There is. But without a good attorney to keep them in check, there may seem like there isn't.
My ex-husband has been touching my 3 year old daughter for what he admitted to DYFS has been over a year. I only knew about the recent abuse because my daughter would come home very upset that her dad was putting cream on her "privates." I took her to see an independant psychotherapist because DYFS was investigating but she was still being abused during the visits. The therapist found that she was most definatly being abused and wrote a letter to this effect for me to bring to the judge to have visitation stopped. This was granted based on the fact that he would not stop touching her during every visit...even after DYFS got involved. After the visitation stopped DYFS decided to have her examined by what they called the "abuse team". Well, it was no team, it was 1 doctor - a regular MD with NO psychology background-- who after examining her and finding no penetration (thank god) and no redness, and being aware of the psychotherapist's findings, decided that her father touching her every other weekend for over a year was "appropriate" because he was applying cream for alleged redness. Now, there was no redness when he examined her, I have never seen any redness and her pediatrician did not see redness...but apparently she is red only during the short time he has her every other weekend. So DYFS closed the case without having my daughter seen by any "team" only this baffoon of a doctor who felt perfectly comfortable saying that it is appropriate for a man to apply cream to a three year old's vagina during every visit, every other weekend, while screams for him not to do it. I have since contacted an attorney and thankfully visitation is still suspended...but the future is unknown and the judges put so much faith in the DYFS workers who don't even have psychology degrees!!! They are over-paid, over-protected bunch of idiots who wouldn't know abuse if it were their own children!
See what happens when you get an attorney? You get things done.
There are some real cases of abuse and neglect of children that really need the attention of a child welfare agency. Having said that, I think it is time that DYFS is investigated by the proper authorities. Let’s clean out all these representatives who have nothing better to do than harass parents and ruin lives. As obvious by the 7-0 ruling in the New Jersey Supreme Court, DYFS needs to re-evaluate their definition of abuse and neglect. This case is a clear example of personal bias and overzealous reaction.
Stop DYFS from abusing their power by demanding a full investigation by Gov. Chris Christie: Sign The Petition.
How many chances does DYFS give to drug addicted parents before taking action? Why would they give back a child to parents with a known drug addiction and after the child had been removed again from a home that was in deplorable condition? Where is the child's best interest in that? And when you call the hotline to report an issue on a file that's a mile long, they want to know everything about the case that they already have right in front of them. Also, what proof is there that the child is in danger...I'm I losing it but isn't it their job to check it out when past incidences have already occurred?? Please help me understand
I was contacted by the police of a monmouth county town to come get my son and remove him from my exs home due to prescription abuse in the home. DYFS came to my home to investigate and interveiw my son on tuesday after Memorial day.Dyfs asked that I keep my son for the week and return my son to his prescription abusing mother even though my son begged Tom not to make him go back to his mother . IT BROKE MY HEART TO TAKE HIM BACK SUNDAY!!!! GOV Chrispy cream stop busting teachers chops and end Dyfs and save the state a bundle of cash
Wow you have it exactly correct on all of your descriptions.To a tee! My son is diagnosed with a disorder that makes him hurt himself - sometimes severely - needing hospitalization( stitches,staples,lacerations,bruises...) The school ignored that and called DYFS anyway. In a weird twist of fate,the case was closed but quickly re-opened when it was found that I was pulled over arrested for the 1st time in my 41 yrs in Clifton for possession of marijuana that had LITERALLY been handed to me 2 min. before my colleague and I drove to Dunkin Donuts.It smelled bad and he did not want to go inside smelling like it so I obliged.We left, we were then follwed(racially profiled honestly lol) by Clifton Police,pulled over and searched,then hauled off that night! To compound matters 2weeks before I had took a few puffs to alleviate a severe 2 day migraine/nausea ( I was desperate) and finally get some sleep.
I explained this to DYFUS after being questioned about the incident and they immediatley asked for a urine sample which tested positive. Now it seemed they had exactly what they needed to enable the assembly line of discredit as a parent to begin against me.I NOW HAVE TO PAY to recieve MONTHS of counseling and weekly testing after determining that I ABUSE MARIJUANA! HELP WHAT CAN I DO legally to lessen this grip they have on me and my family??
In march i found on my step daughters cell phone pictures which showing how her 14 year old brother gets beat up by his mother. he was butt naked in the pictures, while his mother wrestled him and hit him. you can see how he tried to cover his private with his hands and with a pillow. there where about 6-7 pictures and they where taken by the 11 yeart old sister. i immediate contact the police and dyfus. and guess what, they did not do s#%$. in fact is, that the mom told them that we're abusing marijuana and all kinds of other stupid things. they did the whole testing, everything negative. but we didn't saw the kids then. she brainwashed them and the kids things we are the bad ones. i just know if my husband would be in the pictures beating up his daughter (naked) they would have him looked up asap. and now we also saw a picture on facebook of my now 15 year old stepson with a huge tattoo over his chest saying his mothers name. you know what dyfus comment was?: there is nothing we can do about it, because the kids protecting there mother.
we also have proof of pictures that she has a handgun in the house, she also tried to kill herself couple years back, therr is a record for that at the local hospital. we have so many evidence, but the kids are still living with her. it is so......we don't know what to do no more.... i feel like i want to submit all the evidence to cnn's nancy grace...
I too feel that this is bull!!! About a month ago my husband and I had a fight and we were both drinking..someone called the cops and then in turn call dyfs because our to girls were in the house...They talked to my kids one whom which is 5 and took them away..thank god a friend got to keep them..I was sober for 2 yrs completed all programs and just had a relapse that day..my husband never had a problem with alchol but yet they are making us go to iop 3 times a week 3 hours a day for three months causing us to both lose or jobs..we both offered to go to the dyfs dept everyday for a urine test to prove we werent drinking but they said no...now my childeren who clearly arent abused(have there own rooms in a big house plenty of food and every toy know to man)are going to suffer when we have no money to put food on the table..Whats the justice in that...We get tthe same punishment that people who really abuse there kids NOT FAIR!!!
Sign the petition!!! Go to the following link...
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-dyfs-from-abu
Stop DYFS from Destroying Families, Petition for a Full Investigation into DYFS Today!
Dear Gov. Christie:
DYFS (Division of Youth and Family Services) is dividing families all over the state of New Jersey. Parents are crying for help from these sadists who take children because of anonymous calls and unwarranted complaints. DYFS threatens family and uses stall tactics to keep and claim children. They are authorized to enter your house and take your children for unset lengths of time. DYFS officials blatantly lie to judges, doctors and police officers to humiliate and harass innocent parents, most of who do not have the funds to hire lawyers to fight. Each child adopted brings the state up to $8,000 and DYFS is abusing their authority to get rich.
For years, DYFS has tortured and tormented families on taxpayer's dollar and is backed by the Stalinist government of New Jersey. They are given higher authority than police officers, in many cases. The time to investigate DYFS is now. A simple Google search with reveal literally thousands of disgruntled parents who spent years and thousands of dollars fighting unwarranted claims by DYFS. These parents are too scared to speak out, in fear that DYFS will take their children and further destroy their lives.
We are urging you to revamp DYFS by conducting a full investigation into their services. The time has come to clean out all these taxpayer-funded sadists who take joy in abusing their power by harassing parents and ruining lives. As obvious by the 7-0 ruling in the New Jersey Supreme Court on January 26, 2011, DYFS needs to re-evaluate their definition of abuse and neglect. They also need a good dose of common sense. This case is a clear example of the personal bias and overzealous reaction by DYFS officials against parents who fight them. We, the taxpaying citizens of New Jersey, are sick and tired of the corrupt system known as DYFS and ask for your help.
[Your name]
How to find a good n j lawyer
“Someone is calling DYFS on you over and over again. With each visit, tensions get hire and.....”
"This is because there is no court appearances....."
1) tensions don't get hire, they get higher and
2) there IS no court appearances?
can't be bothered reading your own web content but you're competent enough to run a case? unh huh.
@sultryzulu this person is an attorney, not a linguist or English major. Grow up!
Need an attorney to sue Dyfus for falsely accused for multiple times.
i have a case with dyfs as we speak in they railroaded me they said my house had an odor of of animals and all i have is a kitten they came to my house and said my house was in deplorable conditions and took pictures of my kids room that just had sum clothes on the floor and a water bottle and they said in court it was have eatn food n weed bags everywhere they said my kids smelled like cat urine when i know 4 a fact it wasnt true they then said that i didnt have running water or a working toilet n thats jus sum of the things i need a good lawyer and sum advice can sum1 help me cause at this point they did a emergency removal of my kids on a report from an investiagator that exaggerated alot to get a judge to remove my kids n the public defender is really looking out 4 my best interests please help me
Are there any attorneys who can bring a lawsuit against DYFS? I have requested numerous times to the Judge to stop visitation because something was going on at the non-custodials house during his parenting time. 12 DYFS Investigations all "unfounded", Doctor reports, Therapists letters to the judge, phone calls to DYFS from The school, DOctors, Therapists, and nothing was ever done. Now finally after a confession from my young innocent child, the Prosecutors office can not use anything to charge a juvenile as an adult. Sickly now my childs innocence and childhood has been taken. I need an Attorney who is not afraid to go after the system, especially when there is Documentation and proof that they (DYFS & COURT) had but constantly over looked. Any help would be appreciated.
To bad every body can't afford an attorney, and when left with a state apointed attroney its just as if dyfs was your attorney ..... 13 months into my case and I still don't know the allegation or had a fact finding hearing yet, allegetly I'm only a disposition defendat, but yet won't give my daughter to me... so in 13 month i'm lucky to have seen her 30 times for an hour in a dyfs office.... yeah,,,,and i can't sue them yeah so proud to be an amercan...not
yes its all true the system dosnt work, they are all overworked, there caseloads are too big some workers have been know to have over 100 kids on there caseload at one time. this was fortunate for us because it kept them off our backs somewhat, they lied and said we had done home visits with them when we actually had not. my sons babys mother took drugs while pregnant, but she was the offender, but guess who was the one being harassed by them every couple weeks? you guessed it everybody but the offending mother, go figure that out. they said they have to protect the child and make sure she is safe! DUH KEEP THE MOTHER AWAY AND SHELL BE SAFE!
Dyfs did a very sneaky, nasty thing to my family and I. They actually took us to court without ever informing us that they were filing a complaint against us. My wife and I had problems with our then 16 year old daughter. For some months an agent had been visiting and talking with my wife about her behavior. When she turned 14 she became rebellious and was impregnated at age 15 by a 19 year old. As soon as she delivered the father of the 19 year old pleaded with my wife to allow her to live with them because he was so excited about his first grandchild. We allowed this but things went sour. Instead of him calling us to have her return to our home he called dyfs and claimed that she was living with them because we had kicked her out along with the baby. When questioned by dyfs about this we denied it and said she could come home anytime she wanted. In fact we had a bedroom still set up for her and the baby. However, a dyfs supervisor who had never been involved with the case came to the house and intentionally tried to provoke my wife by telling her that she should have taught my daughter about birth control. My wife tactfully explained to this woman that she in fact had done so and that my daughter probably knew more about that subject than the supervisor. Needless to say it didn't sit well with the supervisor. In less than a month they had us in court with a 27 page complaint against us for child abuse/neglect. I did not even go to that first court appearance because there was no summons or any other kind of correspondence telling us to appear. Not even a verbal notification from dyfs was given. They had only spoken to our daughter and told her that we needed to be in court for procedures that would legally allow her to stay with the 19 year old and his father. This is what our daughter told us and so i did not see the need to takeoff from work for something that my wife could handle alone. Imagine the shock when Igot home and read the 27 page complaint that was full of so many lies. We hadn't even had an attorney. Dyfs planned it that way . Nonetheless i still got the charges dropped on my own. But we lost custody of our granddaughter.
It's me again. I just wanted to further comment on how your familiarization of dyfs tactics is dead on. I could easily show how the things they did to me would fit right into the pattern of what you have uncovered. For example in my first encounter with dyfs my daughter, then 12 years old had written a story in school about a mother who was abusing her daughter. It got into the hands of a lunch aide and was passed on to the teacher and then to the principal. They insisted that it was a letter and therefore 'cry for help'. They interrogated my daughter and my 3 other younger daughters. Even though my daughters denied any abuse, they tried to correlate the story to our family. The story was about a single mother with one child. We are a family of 2 parents with 4 children. We are an inter-racial couple. During the interrogations they tried to suggest to my children that I, the father was seperated from my wife and not living at home. My children denied this nonsense but the school called dyfs on us anyway. When the agent arrived at my home he right away said he dud not think any abuse was going on. But he wanted to talk with us anyway. So he talked to me and I just let him have his say to avoid trouble. But when he talked with my wife he made a racial insult about how children were handled in her country, the Philippines. Clearly he had in mind a stereotypical image of a super-submissive Asian wife who would just accept this. Well my wife went upside his verbally so bad that he was close to the point of crying. After his beatdown he began shouting that if he ever had to come to our home again he was going to take the children and have my wife and I imprisoned. He demanded that my wife go to anger management classes. The next day his supervisor came by and she scheduled a visit for the next day. When I found out about this I called her up and told her not to come by and that my wife would not be going to anger management. I told her to just take us to court. They left us alone after that. But that is one of those cases where even though they find false allegations they trie to find something else to get you into their 'services'.
cluense 21 months ago
Awesome Hub! I rated it up a notch! Keep on writing! Great Information - Thank you for sharing it with us!