Chap.8-Criminal Law

Chapter 8
Criminal Law

Most of the foster parents I have gotten to know over the years have never had any experience with this end of the justice system. Like I said earlier, most have never been in jail or even had a traffic ticket. This form of law is for criminals. Criminal persons who break the law, by stealing, robbing, murdering and raping. Criminal Law does not apply to honest good people who only want to help children!

Please Understand
When an allegation filed on you and
the impending investigation is completed:
Criminal Charges can be filed on you,
or someone in your family

The District Attorney is asked to make a determination. He will go over the evidence that has been gathered against you. It is then decided if there is enough evidence to prosecute you.

No matter what you are charged with, neglect, failure to protect, sexual abuse, physical abuse or withholding medical services; you are subject to Criminal Charges.

At this point, you are out of the realm of Administrative Law and into the Criminal justice system. Never make the mistake of thinking that this will go away simply because you are innocent!

Never allow anyone to intimidate you into
voluntarily submitting to an interview, phone discussion, meeting, clearing of files, answering
questions, or an interrogation
WITHOUT YOUR ATTORNEY PRESENT!
You will be told that you do not need an attorney
if you are innocent. This is NOT TRUE.

Remember “Intimidation 101.” They are experts at it. They will tell you that they just want you to come into their office to TALK. Or, they will come to your home unannounced to just talk to you. Remember the Miranda Rights, even though they are not read to us:

Miranda Rights

“You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, you will be appointed one by the court. If you wish to give up this right whatever you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

You can also forget the part saying if you cannot afford an attorney you will be appointed one by the court. This is true under the criminal charges, but not if you are still under Administrative Law. Never confuse the two.

The Miranda Rights are mandatory to be read to all criminals prior to, or while being arrested, charged or being booked. We, however are never advised of our Miranda Rights. Much of the time there is not even a search warrant. They do not have a search warrant when they come to our homes to remove children.

Why is that, you say? Because the children within the confines of our homes are Wards of the Court.

They belong to the state, not us. They have the right to demand the children be turned over to them. But most foster parents are reluctant to bring the children outside to be turned over to the police with their lights going around, scaring the children to death. So, feeling they have NOTHING TO HIDE, invite the social workers and policemen into their homes. This is done while thinking all we have to do is simply straighten this out with the truth.

News Flash

They will take the children anyway. This will be accomplished whether inside or outside of the home. They will use force to gain entry into your home. This is because the children inside belong to the state.

Only Criminals have rights. Remember that. The first thing you need to do is talk to an attorney. Now is the time you need a Criminal Law attorney. Usually you need to find another attorney rather than use the same Family law or Administrative law attorney you had for the Administrative Inquiry and/or Hearing.

How Do I Find an Attorney?

The next question that usually comes up is: How do I find an attorney? If you follow the advice already found in this booklet, you have made the first steps to locate and interview attorneys in Family Law, Administrative Law and Criminal Law.

You must take these first steps or you will be frantically seeking shelter while in the eye of a hurricane! This is an absolute no no. During this stormy time, you are not functioning on all four burners. You are not in the most rational state of mind. This is why we tell you to start looking and preparing for that right attorney ahead-of-time.

Talk to other foster parents who have faced allegations. Talk to your local or State Foster Parents Associations. Call the American Bar Association. Pick up the yellow pages and do the experiment that was laid out earlier. Understand that if you have our Foster Parents Legal Plan, you already have specialists in just about every specialty of law in one office.

Pick up the phone and call your Provider law firm. If you have our plan in place prior to an allegation being filed, you will have an attorney standing beside you at Administrative Inquiry and/or a Hearing. This is part of the service. Having an attorney with you right from the beginning is absolutely essential. If the agency is aware that you have an attorney every i is dotted and every t is crossed. They understand that this is in the hands of a qualified attorney and will go extra lengths to make sure that an actual, trained investigator completes your case.

Before you talk to your attorney, first make a list of questions that you want to ask him.

It is like going to the doctor. Have all the subjects ready to run by the doctor. Because, by the time you arrive at the office, you forget all that you wanted to say. So make a list and keep it beside the phone prior to calling our law firm. This is important when calling any attorney. Have your paperwork together. This included copies of your journal and documentation following the journal entries. Prove what you are saying is true. If the paperwork from the investigation is available, start going through it, word-for-word. Tear it apart, proving that each statement and each charge is a lie.

You cannot just say something and be believed.
Your job is to provide your attorney
WITH ABSOLUTE PROOF
that what they are saying is a lie.
And, that what you are saying is TRUTH.

Be very clear in your own mind what you are expecting your attorney to do for you. This is why getting your case in order PRIOR to contacting an attorney is a big help. See the Chapter 5 covering the creation of your own law book. If you haven’t started your law book DO IT NOW.

I use this scenario in my workshops. Let’s picture you are needing someone to file your taxes for you. You walk into your CPA’s office with a huge box of papers. This box is overflowing with paperwork sticking up and overflowing with receipts, canceled checks and your check registers for the past year. You get the picture. You are asking this professional to take his time to organize your mess in order to file your taxes for you. Do you think this person is going to have figured into the quoted price the task ahead of him? Consider the time it is going to take to organize your messy box of paperwork. This time to organize the messy box determines that extra will be charged.

It is the same with an attorney. Your attorney must either take his valuable $250-$350 per hour, in time to organize this case himself, or hire a paralegal to organize the case and do the research. This must be done first for the attorney to determine if he wants to take your case, if at all. The retainer fee is going to reflect all of these expenses, trust me.

It will be well worth saving the money by walking into your attorney’s office with a LAW BOOK chocked full of:

1. The statutes pertaining to your case.

2. Case studies.

3. Copies of your journal laid out in conjunction, with:

4. Previously-highlighted objections to the investigation reports.

5. The subsequent PROOF submitted in order as exhibits, through your journals.

Logically, the retainer fee is going to reflect substantially lower with this case that is already prepared! A majority of the retainer fees that attorneys ask for up front are for these expenses that are incurred to prepare the case.

The main thing to watch for in interviewing attorneys is the attitude and confidence that is projected. If your attorney acts like a mouse afraid of his own shadow, how do you think he is going to react to facing a HUGE MONSTER like CPS?

Check out reputations prior to interviewing an attorney. If he has the reputation of a tiger, someone who is not afraid of the big bad wolf in sheep’s clothing (CPS) -- this is the one you want. An attorney who has faced and won against this powerful enemy before is needed. This is why talking to other foster parents is probably the best route to take in locating an aggressive attorney. Even if you find one who does not seem to flinch or back down from the name CPS or D.E.S, you can work with this person. If they are willing to learn along the way ,it is a workable situation. Preferably, you need someone with experience in Administrative Law. Later on, if it becomes necessary, you will want an attorney in Criminal Law. This is your life we are talking about here. How much is that worth to you?

Know your Rights!

You already have your law book started if you have done your homework as suggested in this booklet. You will already know what your rights are as stated in your state’s statutes. You will already know if your state has a Foster Parents Bill of Rights. It will have been printed out and placed into your law book.

There are items you need to know. For instance: How long do you have to file an appeal? It is in your manual and/or your statutes ff you do not know this. Know your rights. Do you know your Constitutional rights? Have you ever read them? This is the only way you are going to know if they have been violated.

Arm yourself with KNOWLEDGE.

You have someone on your side:

Foster Parents Legal Solutions
(877) 372-2445
www.foster-parents-legal-solutions.com

We will be there when you need someone. We will stand with you on your side. We will help you in any way that can be possibly accomplished. Foster Parents Legal Solutions can be:

Services are available to any foster parent who needs us. Our services are not in any way predicated on whether you are a member of our foster parents legal plan or not. We are here to support you OUR FOSTER PARENTS. PERIOD.

Our job would be a whole lot easier if every foster parent in the U.S. was a member of our legal plan. However, we realize that most of you do not believe that allegations can happen to good foster parents. Just like lawsuits only happen to bad people, right? Let me ask you a question. If a person walks up onto your porch, slick with ice and snow, and falls; Do you think this person is going to ask you whether you are a good person or bad person before they sue you? I hope you have homeowner’s insurance cause you are about to be sued. Being a good or bad person has nothing to do with it. Just as allegations can happen to a good foster parent.

If you live in a glass house, never
be without glass coverage.

Never forget our toll free number:

1-877-FPA-CHILD (372-2445)

We sincerely hope that this manual has helped you understand the challenges you are going to face as a foster parent. If you need help with an allegation, or just have questions to be answered, please feel free to contact our office for direction.

And, something unheard of called: SUPPORT.

We are there to help in any way possible. You are invited to visit the website for more information about our company:

Foster Parents Legal Solutions
www.foster-parents-legal-solutions.com
1-877-FPA-CHILD
1-877-372-2445

We also have informative CDs available to our foster parents that are free of charge. Even the call is free!

We are in process of updating our website to include access to many of the training workshops that are taught on the road. Everything we do, with the exception of our legal coverage is free to you. The legal coverage is $14.95 per month. The charge is necessary because our underwriters expect payment for this important coverage.

Marilyn
Harrison

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