Consult an Attorney When Assistance Needed
Video Transcribed: Your kids were with your ex and something happened, and now DHS has your kids and is sending you notices of hearing set to determine who will keep custody of your children.
Oklahoma Child Protective Services Attorney Ryan Cannonie, with CPS investigation defense, and this is an extremely unsettling situation for you as a parent, but you do have some options. I’ve seen this before, I’ve seen where parents have come in and said, “Well, they just had visitation, I have custody. You can’t take my kids.” Unfortunately, you’re wrong.
The way the state law works on that is if a deprived petition, if a judge orders emergency custody, that supersedes and is held higher than any custody agreement you have previous, any guardianship, any agreement before the judge ordered that takes a back seat.
So if you can’t do that, what’s your other option? Another option to talk about is what we call non-offending status. This is something you talked to an attorney about to go in and advocate on your behalf with DHS, that you are not an offending parent, and give examples and get DHS to agree that as long as you keep the kids away from whoever, that they’re not going to step in.
This is a point kind of where there’s some negotiation, and if you need an attorney that understands the process, understands DHS’ policies and processes, then please, give us a call and we will have an Oklahoma CPS attorney reach you.