The Department of Children and Family Services is also called "DCFS." Investigations conducted by DCFS are sometimes sent to the Juvenile Court-Child Protection Division.  DCFS investigations go to Juvenile Court for two main reasons:

• To get a court order allowing DCFS to remove or keep children from returning to the parent's home or
• To provide court supervision over the parenting in a home.

There are three kinds of issues that DCFS will claim and bring to juvenile court:

• Abuse,
• Neglect, or
• Dependency.

Abuse and neglect: these cases can be filed in Illinois even if just one parent is accused of abuse or neglect. They may also be filed for anticipatory neglect, or when the child is thought to be at risk of abuse or neglect based on something that occurred with a different child.

This guide does not cover juvenile delinquency cases. The term juvenile court also applies to delinquency cases. However, delinquency cases are different because they involve claims that a person under 18 committed a criminal offense.

DCFS and the state have separate lawyers and different job functions. In most counties, the decision of whether the child protection matter goes to court is made by a state's attorney. State's attorneys are the county's official prosecutors. The DCFS lawyer helps arrange for DCFS responses to issues about services and visits. There will also be a lawyer and guardian ad litem ("GAL") for the child. This can be two separate people, but often both roles are played by the same person. They are involved in all matters regarding the case. 

In some larger counties, there is a whole court building devoted to juvenile court cases. In smaller counties, juvenile court cases may be heard in the same building as other types of cases.

Juvenile Court Child Protection cases: What is the timing of court action?

DCFS may have already moved your child to another home under a safety plan agreement with you. (If this has already occurred, read the Responding to Investigations Manual, Section V. This section has more information about what you can do about safety plans.) Sometimes while a safety plan is in place, DCFS will decide to seek court intervention by “screening” the investigation with the state’s attorney. If the state’s attorney believes that the situation meets the standard for juvenile court involvement, it will file a petition asking the juvenile court case to assume authority over the family. The court can then issue orders imposing obligations on the family.

In other cases, DCFS decides to seek court involvement without imposing a safety plan first. In such cases, DCFS may remove  the child from the parents without any prior agreement from the parents. This is known as taking “protective custody.” Once DCFS takes protective custody of a child, DCFS has to get a court order granting it “temporary custody” of that child within 48 hours of the child’s removal. This 48 hour period does not include holidays or weekends.

In any case where children are removed, DCFS tries to place the children with foster caregivers who are relatives or family friends whenever possible. This is required by statute and case law. Also, research has shown that this is best for children.

My Juvenile Court Child Protection case is going to juvenile court

Juvenile court cases are serious matters. Statewide statistics show that many children are returned home. Sometimes this happens at the beginning of a case, but sometimes it can take a year or more. Juvenile court cases can be long. The length can depend on your willingness to jump through a lot of hurdles or effectively prove your innocence. In juvenile court cases, the burden is on the State to prove that abuse or neglect occurred (or that the child is dependent in a dependency case). In practice, parents are often encouraged not to fight the allegations against them. Juvenile court cases can lead to the complete loss of parental rights if:

• There is a finding of abuse or neglect and
• A later finding that the parents are unfit and that it is in the child’s best interest to terminate parental rights.

Parents have a right to a lawyer and should face such a serious proceeding with a lawyer.
 

DCFS is required to notify you of the first court date. After that, you must:

• Keep track of court dates;
• Keep track of all persons involved; and
• Keep your lawyer and DCFS informed of your whereabouts and contact information.

The juvenile court case has different stages where each of the following goals might be considered:

• At the first hearing (the “temporary custody hearing”), the main issue is whether the child should be removed from your care;
• At a later hearing (the “adjudicatory hearing”), the question of whether the child is abused or neglected is  decided; and
• At another hearing (the “dispositional hearing”), there is a decision whether the children should be returned to your care. If the children were home during the case, the court will determine if they should remain in your home.

At different times in a case, you may want one or more of these things to happen. Your attorney needs to advise you as to how to present your requests at the right stage of the court process.

In Illinois, you have a right to have a lawyer appointed for you if you cannot afford one. The lawyer may be a public defender or they may be a private attorney who is told by the court to take the case. Bring information about your income to court with you on the first day.

Juvenile Court Child Protection cases: What can you try to accomplish in court?

Most parents who have juvenile court cases want to have their children returned to them as soon as possible. Some parents want to assert that they did not abuse or neglect the child. They want to show they are fully capable of caring for the child. Other parents genuinely need some help to be full-time parents for their children.

The court may order the children to return to only one parent for a limited period. The other parent completes evaluations and/or services during this time. The court may also order the children to remain with someone else while both parents do services. Parents should prioritize having frequent visits with their children under the conditions authorized by the court, and as well as remaining involved in their child's life as much as possible. Parents should make sure that the Court and DCFS know about relatives who could care for the child if the parents themselves cannot do so.

You should tell your attorney what your goals are. Here are a few questions to help you decide what you want to accomplish in court:

• Are you trying to get a child returned to your care that DCFS took away from you?
• Are you trying to keep children in your care?
• Are you asking to be relieved of all parental duties so that the child can be adopted?
• Are you hoping to disprove the allegations against you? For example, is DCFS claiming that you abused or neglected your child, but you believe they are wrong?
• Are you trying to make sure that your children who are in the DCFS system get the best care and services they can?
• Are there services or resources that you think would help either you or your children that aren't being offered?
• Do you think the court's involvement is helping you or a family member? Are you or a family member accessing helpful resources, such as housing or addiction treatment, that you could not otherwise get? 
• Are you trying to get more visitation or other rights to contact your child that have been denied to you?
• Are you trying to make sure that a particular relative can care for your child if you cannot?
• Is the help DCFS is supposed to provide working or even being offered?

Different judges handle cases in different ways. Some judges expect that progress toward reunifying the family should proceed quickly except in the most serious cases. They may expect to address visits at every court date, and may decide to return children home even over objections from the State and GAL. Other judges are more hesitant to reunify families quickly, especially when the State and/or GAL are raising objections. You should discuss the odds of (and timeline for) achieving your goals through the court case with your lawyers.

Sometimes you change your mind about what you would like to happen. You may want one thing at one point in a case and something very different later on. That's OK, but it is essential to communicate your goals with your lawyer. You must develop a plan for how to accomplish those goals through the case. Your lawyer should advise you on the steps you will need to follow to achieve your goals.
 

Goals in a Juvenile Court Child Protection case

In juvenile court cases, your actions before and after the court case impact the outcome of the case. Your actions can make a big difference in the outcome. You almost certainly will be ordered to have assessments and services. These are used to establish your ability to care for the child safely. Your level of cooperation will be judged, even if you are claiming you did not abuse or neglect the child. Sometimes you may face hard decisions about the steps you need to agree to take to have your child returned.

These cases are unlike other court cases. For example, criminal cases mainly focus on a single specific event from the past. Here:

• Cases involving child abuse or neglect often involve ongoing scrutiny of past, present, and future events. The parties and the judges will be considering risks. Judges are less likely to return children home if they do not receive favorable reports from service providers. They are also less likely to return children if they do not receive favorable testimony from caseworkers; and
• Ultimately, at some point, you must convince the judge you are trustworthy and can provide a safe home for your children.

This means you can help your case by working to fix problems such as addiction. When children are taken away because of these problems, fixing them helps your chances of having a successful return home. You can change the outcome of your case by showing that you have fixed the problem.

You may not want to do some of the things you are being mandated to do, and you may believe it is unfair for you to be required to comply with court orders. You should discuss your concerns with your attorney. Sometimes orders can be challenged, but orders must be followed unless the court rules in your favor. Certain types of issues, such as problems with service plans or a change in foster placement, cannot be addressed by the judge and must instead be raised through an internal administrative process with DCFS.

Juvenile Court Child Protection cases: Do I need a lawyer?

The simple answer is yes. Juvenile court cases have different stages. Different evidence is considered in each stage. This makes it essential to have a lawyer during the court case. Cases involving DCFS are often very different than other types of cases. Hearings in these cases have different names and many unique rules. An experienced lawyer can help you sort out what you want to accomplish. They can help decide how to get to that point. Most court-appointed lawyers have experience and training in understanding the different stages. They can also advise you on how to put your best foot forward.

Juvenile Court Child Protection cases: Court Appointed Special Advocate

The court will appoint a special advocate if one is available. In smaller counties, the court appointed special advocate can also serve as the GAL. In counties with a population over 3 million people, the special advocate appointed will be different than the GAL. Special advocates are volunteers supervised by a court appointed special advocate program. Their responsibilities include:

• Do independent assessments of the facts and circumstances of the case by checking the court order,
• Stay in contact with the child,
• Submit reports about the child’s best interests,
• Advocate for timely court hearings that lead to the permanent placement of the child,
• Be notified of all administrative case reviews and make sure that the child is receiving the correct welfare services,
• Attend all court hearings and other proceedings to advocate for the child's best interests,
• Check to make sure that the case plan and court orders are being followed, and
• Review court documents that relate to the minor child.

The attorney in my Juvenile Court Child Protection case isn't helping me

Sometimes attorneys in juvenile courts have very high caseloads and many demands on their time. If you genuinely believe your attorney is not working with you or listening to your concerns, you should take the following steps. First, make a good faith effort to discuss your concerns with that attorney directly. Contact them by both email and phone, making sure to leave a voicemail with your name and contact information if they do not answer. Next, speak with their supervisor if they have one. Put your concerns in writing. Make sure that you have provided your attorney with any helpful information or documents, as well as names and contact information for  people who you think have relevant information to share. This may help if your attorney is refusing to ask for something you need. Sometimes attorneys have a good reason for not following your requests or suggesting a different strategy. However, you are entitled to know what your attorney thinks about your case and concerns, so ask them to discuss these issues with you.

If you hired your attorney privately and are not satisfied, you have the right to change attorneys at any time. If you qualified for an appointed attorney when the case began but can now afford to hire an attorney privately, you are free to do so. But keep in mind that just because an attorney charges fees does not mean he or she will necessarily be more effective than an appointed attorney. Child protection cases are a very specialized area of law, so you should make sure that any attorney that you hire has experience in this area. 

If you have an appointed attorney and you are not satisfied, you can ask the court to appoint you a different attorney at no cost. That said, the judge may deny your request and encourage you to keep working with the original attorney. If the judge grants your request and appoints you a new attorney, there is no guarantee that the new attorney will be better than the previous one. (The judge will be unlikely to appoint a third attorney if you are dissatisfied with the second one.) For that reason, you should do your best to work productively with your assigned attorney and request appointment of a different attorney only if you believe there is no other option. 

Getting children back from DCFS

You should always talk with your attorney about the steps you are taking to get your child back. Here are some general rules to follow:

• First, try to visit with your child as much as is possible under the conditions authorized by the court. Generally, you should be able to visit with your child a minimum of once per week. This is true unless there is a court order limiting the visitation or the goal of the case is no longer for the child to return home. Also, you can ask for and should receive unsupervised visits before you have the child returned to you.
• Second, you should follow through with the services you have been asked to complete. This is true whether your children remain in your home or not. These services often include:
  • parenting classes;
  • counseling;
  • domestic violence services;
  • substance abuse treatment;
  • visitation;
  • locating adequate housing (if you are unable to find housing without assistance, DCFS can help pay for certain housing costs through a program called  “Norman cash assistance,” can help you apply for apartments through its “Housing Advocacy Program,” and/or can help you obtain a Section 8 voucher through the “Family Unification Program”).

People who provide these services may be required to report to the court or DCFS on your engagement and progress. They may also have to report what you say to them. Make sure to keep your attorney and your caseworker updated about your engagement in services. When you successfully complete a service, make sure to send your attorney and your caseworker a copy of any certificate of completion you receive.  

Engaging in services through a juvenile court case can sometimes put parents in difficult situations. For example, a therapist may want the parent to acknowledge having engaged in past abusive conduct, but the parent may fear that this will hurt their court case or lead to criminal charges. The parent may feel pressure to falsely confess to prior abusive conduct in the hopes that it  will speed up the court case. A parent who did not hurt the child may be told that the only way to get the child returned is to agree that the other parent will not live in the home. This is especially difficult if the first parent wants to give the benefit of the doubt to the other parent. There are no simple answers in many of these scenarios. In all cases, discussing these matters with your lawyer is absolutely essential. Remember that all of your communications with your attorney are confidential. The lawyer cannot tell anyone else what you tell them in confidence.

Throughout your case, you should try to cultivate a positive relationship with your assigned caseworker. Make sure to keep them updated about your engagement in visits and your progress in services. Don’t be afraid to ask them for help if you need it--they may be able to help you cover certain types of expenses. You should also feel free to raise any concerns to your caseworker that you think they might be able to assist with. That said, be mindful that your caseworker is required to share information about you--both good and bad--with the court. They should not be viewed as a friend or confidant. 

Sometimes moving a child to a relative's home during the case will allow for more contact with the parent. Relatives who are interested in playing a bigger role in the child's care should communicate this to the caseworker and be willing to come to court and support the parent. Judges are more likely to favor parents who have a stable support network in place. However, parents who have children in relative care still need to work on their service plans for the return of the children. Parents who have not been visiting their child regularly and/or actively working on their service plans may lose out on opportunities to expand visitation and make progress toward reunification. Even if the parents don’t mind having their children in the care of relatives, any failure to engage with the case creates a risk that a parent will permanently lose their parental rights. 

Although most juvenile court cases stem from DCFS investigations in which a parent or caregiver was “indicated” (i.e., found responsible for perpetrating) abuse or neglect, a DCFS indicated finding is not the same as a juvenile court finding. 

• A DCFS indicated finding is an administrative decision made by a child welfare agency after an investigation. Being indicated means that your name is placed on a list known as the State Central Register, which is a centralized database of all individuals in Illinois who have been found to have perpetrated abuse or neglect. Indicated findings show up on certain kinds of background checks, and they can prevent you from working in certain types of jobs, becoming a foster parent, or adopting or obtaining guardianship of a child. An indicated finding does not have any effect on your rights as a parent; for that, DCFS must get a court order. 
• In a juvenile court case, a judge can issue orders affecting your rights as a parent. Although a DCFS indicated finding and the events underlying it may be relevant information for the judge to consider in the case, decisions made by the juvenile court are separate from and will not affect a DCFS indicated finding. Even if the juvenile court case resolves in your favor (i.e., with a finding that the State failed to meet its burden of showing that abuse or neglect occurred, or a finding that you were not the one who perpetrated abuse or neglect), the DCFS indicated finding will remain on the State Central Register unless you appeal it through a separate administrative process. 

If the judge in your juvenile court case finds that the State failed to prove that you perpetrated abuse or neglect, you may then file an administrative appeal asking that DCFS expunge the underlying indicated finding from the State Central Register. You must file your appeal request within 60 days of the favorable juvenile court decision or your request will be denied as untimely. You should refer to Ascend Justice’s Pro Se Manual for more information about appealing indicated findings.

Domestic Violence and DCFS toolkit for advocates

Ascend Justice offers a Toolkit for domestic violence advocates.  The purpose of the Toolkit is to achieve safety and stability for children and families during DCFS investigations related to domestic violence. The Toolkit equips domestic violence service providers with the knowledge, strategies, and tools to effectively advocate on behalf of their clients.