At a Show Cause, the Cards Are Already Stacked Against You in That the Court
Video Transcribed: DHS just took your kids. Now what? Hi, my name is Ryan Cannonie, and I’m a CPS attorney in the Tahlequah law office, and today I want to talk to you a little bit about what happens at a show cause hearing or temporary emergency custody hearing.
So once DHS comes in and removes your children from your home, there is a, within 48 hours, a hearing set. Now at this hearing, you have a right to have an attorney, and I would highly encourage you to use that right and to get an attorney to help you during this process.
At this hearing, it’s like a mini-trial, but all the rules are kind of flexible. That’s why it’s good to have an attorney that not only understands courtroom procedures, but understands deprive procedures.
I can’t tell you how many times in my seven years experience as a prosecutor where I saw attorneys come in and make objections that made no difference in a deprive case, where they raised issues that those of us who understood deprive law knew didn’t matter.
For instance, hearsay is allowed in a deprived show cause hearing. The DHS worker can get on the stand and say everything that they were told by anyone. In addition, the state may call you the parent as a witness to the stand.
That’s something that never happens in a criminal case and in most other cases.
So having a CPS investigation attorney that not only understands what your rights are at that hearing, but how exercising or failing to exercise those rights will impact your case later on, is something that’s important to you as a parent in getting your children back.
In a show cause hearing, the judge is looking for any evidence for the best interests of the children or the child.
And so that means they will listen to just about anything. A show cause can include testimony from one person or testimony from 20, it just depends on the situation.
At a show cause, the cards are already stacked against you in that the court has already made a determination that this child should be removed.
This is just the court’s second attempt to make sure that they’ve got all the information correct, and they are going to remove your child.
It is your first step in the process, in the court process, to try to get your child back and get DHS out of your life. If that’s something you want to try to do, then please give us a call so we can represent you and help you in your Oklahoma child deprived case.