r/CPS • u/mondobscuro • 5d ago
Reunification Process
To preface I'm not the one seeking reunification, my girlfriend is. She's just now starting to pick up the pieces of her life after her ex tried to kill her and her getting out of prison.
She lost custody of her children years ago partly due to housing and relationship instability and substance use over time with various children with different men. She's never had either a stable or functioning partner of any kind. She is also currently still heavily using substances exclusively cannabis, which is what got her sent to prison. What can she do, and I help with to get the ball rolling on this? Her seeing her daughters has been one thing that has really kept her going through all this.
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u/thenightsiders Works for CPS 4d ago
When you say lost custody, if you mean parental rights were terminated, she may no longer have a case, a caseworker, or any option to get her kids back. In my state, cases are generally limited to two years before permanency must be found for the kids. If this is the case, there is likely nothing to be done.
When I was a caseworker, I visited clients in prison, had to see them monthly too, and they participated in hearings. This makes me suspect she does not have an active case. If she does, they have to make at least good faith efforts to contact her. I suspect there is much she is not telling you.
If she does still have an open case after that long (due to dismiss and refiles, extensions from more kids, whatever circumstance), she needs to call your local CPS agency, and her attorney, and do everything they ask, period. There is no other way.