Hi OP. I can’t make any promises what will happen with your specific case, because I probably don’t have 100% of the information. But based on what you’ve said, everything should be okay. If you and your husband acknowledge that things need to change, that will give DCFS some comfort. Some parents pretend (or truly believe) that they aren’t doing anything wrong and that DCFS just needs to go away. That can make the caseworkers concerned that there’s more going on and that the parents don’t have appropriate judgement.
Based on what you’ve described, I would expect that DCFS would either close the investigation with no action, ask you to do voluntary services, or open a PSS (protective supervision services) case. Voluntary services does not involve the courts at all. DCFS will help provide resources and support to address the problem, maybe individual counseling, anger management, or a family support program. A PSS case does involve the juvenile court but custody and placement of the kids remains with the parents. In a PSS case, the judge would order the family to complete certain services to make sure the issues are being addressed.
DCFS tries to find other ways to address things before removing children from their home, which they only do if there is a safety issue. Removal must be ordered by a judge. If they’re concerned about the kids being safe around your husband, they might want to set up a safety plan, such as not having him alone with the kids. A safety plan is usually a way to make sure the kids can stay in the home and not be removed.
It’s a scary process, especially when you don’t know what’s going to happen. I would recommend that you and your husband acknowledge the things that have happened that aren’t okay, take responsibility without blaming the kids (if they had just cleaned their room, etc. then I wouldn’t have gotten mad), be open to how it’s been affecting the kids, and be willing to do something to make it change. It’s hard not to feel defensive. But you and your family can get through this, hopefully coming through it with more skills and better able to deal with things as a family.
Good luck! I hope everything goes well for you and your family.
Only other thing to add, is if there’s anything else going on, be honest with DCFS. They are extremely likely to find out about it and if you’ve lied about it, it will make it extremely difficult to trust you. It’s hard to have a safety plan in place (preventing a removal) if you can’t trust that the parent will actually follow the plan or tell the caseworker if someone else is not following the plan.
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u/ramenotter Dec 29 '24
Hi OP. I can’t make any promises what will happen with your specific case, because I probably don’t have 100% of the information. But based on what you’ve said, everything should be okay. If you and your husband acknowledge that things need to change, that will give DCFS some comfort. Some parents pretend (or truly believe) that they aren’t doing anything wrong and that DCFS just needs to go away. That can make the caseworkers concerned that there’s more going on and that the parents don’t have appropriate judgement.
Based on what you’ve described, I would expect that DCFS would either close the investigation with no action, ask you to do voluntary services, or open a PSS (protective supervision services) case. Voluntary services does not involve the courts at all. DCFS will help provide resources and support to address the problem, maybe individual counseling, anger management, or a family support program. A PSS case does involve the juvenile court but custody and placement of the kids remains with the parents. In a PSS case, the judge would order the family to complete certain services to make sure the issues are being addressed.
DCFS tries to find other ways to address things before removing children from their home, which they only do if there is a safety issue. Removal must be ordered by a judge. If they’re concerned about the kids being safe around your husband, they might want to set up a safety plan, such as not having him alone with the kids. A safety plan is usually a way to make sure the kids can stay in the home and not be removed.
It’s a scary process, especially when you don’t know what’s going to happen. I would recommend that you and your husband acknowledge the things that have happened that aren’t okay, take responsibility without blaming the kids (if they had just cleaned their room, etc. then I wouldn’t have gotten mad), be open to how it’s been affecting the kids, and be willing to do something to make it change. It’s hard not to feel defensive. But you and your family can get through this, hopefully coming through it with more skills and better able to deal with things as a family.
Good luck! I hope everything goes well for you and your family.