Child Custody and Visitation: Normal Isn’t Good Enough For Parents, Kids Pulled Into Foster Care System
The Covid-19 pandemic has most of the country struggling to get back to some sort of normality. However, normal is an entirely subjective term that by all accounts is inadequate, if not appropriate, when referring to court-mandated child custody and visitation. As hindsight shows, families in the system deserve to achieve a better state of “normal” and certainly one that takes into account the facts of each individual case.
Arguing the facts of their cases can be difficult for families that find themselves targeted by Child Protective Services or CPS. When they are trying to fight for child visitation rights with their own offspring, many families find it difficult to afford retaining child custody lawyers for fathers and non-custodial mothers.
They are not guaranteed one in most states and therefore have no one to argue for them in court. Because poorer families statistically find themselves in the CPS system more than wealthier families, they find it harder to win child visitation rights when they have no lawyer to represent them.
Likewise, when they cannot afford to retain child custody attorneys Los Angeles minority families also are statistically more at risk of losing permanent custody of their children. As a general rule, it is recommended that families retain child custody lawyers for fathers and mothers when CPS takes their children out of their homes.
However, because minority families statistically have lower incomes, they often are not able to retain this legal counsel. A review of the CPS “normal” system shows a disparaging difference in the number of minority families versus white families whose children are taken away, causing many legal insiders to blame inherent racial bias in the way that CPS handles minority moms and dads.
With that, after consulting with child custody attorneys Los Angeles legal insiders urge both California and national CPS authorities to rethink the way that they deal with families at risk of losing their children. They urge authorities to make the system fairer to parents who are mandated by the court to meet a minimum income and living standard to win back their children.
As reported by more than one family law attorney Los Angeles CPS officials expect parents to work and earn a sufficient income to support themselves and their children. However, they do not make allowances for parents whose work schedules conflict with court-mandated visitation schedules.
If the parent does not show up because he or she has to work, that person is penalized by CPS and stands to lose custody of his or her children. However, also reported by more than one family law attorney Los Angeles CPS will also penalize a parent for missing work to meet with their children during court-ordered visitation. The system creates a proverbial rock and a hard place scenario for parents.
It is these normal circumstances in the CPS system that legal authorities warn states not to go back to after the pandemic ends. They argue that families, especially those that are poor or minority, deserve better than what they received prior to Covid-19.
