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Can you adopt if you had a CPS case? Yes, it is possible under certain circumstances. After a Child Protective Services case, families may still pursue adoption as a path to expand their family. This process involves thorough assessments to ensure the safety and suitability of prospective adoptive parents. In addition to domestic adoption following a CPS case, families can also explore international adoption. This involves adopting a child from another country. Each adoption route requires meeting specific criteria and navigating legal and procedural requirements to provide a stable and loving home for a child in need.
It would be wise for you to register that international adoption order with the State of Texas. You can file a petition to register the order and a petition to change the child’s name if you wish to do so. As long as the Texas court determines that the international adoption order does not violate Texas’s human rights or public policy, the judge will order the registration of the order and issue a birth certificate.
What happens in a hearing in an international adoption case?
If you are pursuing an uncontested international adoption, meaning no parent or other party opposes your adoption of the child, the court will still require a hearing to formalize the adoption. You, your spouse, the caseworker assigned by the adoption agency/State, and the advocate appointed on behalf of the child should all attend this hearing.
On the other hand, if yours is a contested adoption case, then more persons will need to be present for any hearing. All the people I listed above will still need to be there. Besides, any party who is contesting the adoption will need to be present. Attorneys for all parties involved in the case will need to attend, as well.
Contempt findings in Texas CPS cases
Texas law recognizes two types of contempt findings: direct contempt and indirect (or constructive) contempt. Direct contempt occurs in the court’s presence during proceedings, leading to immediate punishments imposed by the judge. Indirect contempt involves actions that take place outside the court’s presence and result in the court taking subsequent action to impose penalties.
Direct contempt means that the offensive conduct obstructs the normal and proper administration of justice. Essentially, when you engage in conduct deemed contemptuous, you obstruct the court’s ability to perform its duties. Since this contempt occurs while all parties and the judge are in open court, they can be especially obvious. For example, you might face contempt charges if you disrupt court proceedings with inappropriate behavior or delay them by bringing up irrelevant issues.
Interruptions divert attention from the ongoing courtroom proceedings and force everyone involved, including the court, to endure unnecessary delays until the court addresses the interruption. The judge has an advantage when it comes to the ability to immediately punish for direct contempt, in that the judge directly experienced the bad acts. Once the judge takes action against you or whatever party engaged in contempt, the hearing or trial will proceed as normal.
Here are some examples of direct contempt that I have come across in my years as an attorney:
- -using improper speech or expressing indifference to the actions of the judge
- -refusing to obey an order handed down by the judge during a hearing or trial
- -continuing to act in a way that disturbs the court despite having been told to stop doing so by the judge
Indirect Contempt: What it is and what some examples are
Indirect contempt occurs while you or any other offending party are not inside the courtroom and in front of the judge. There is, therefore, no disruption of any courtroom proceedings that occurs and typically does relate to the case itself. In family law cases, we see contempt findings go against parties who purposefully violate court orders on a somewhat regular basis. When you file an enforcement lawsuit that seeks to enforce the terms of a court order, you ask the judge to hold the opposing party in contempt of court.
Since you have to go back to court to address the indirect contempt charges, the acts themselves do not directly interfere was the administration of a courtroom hearing or trial. These situations are not usually as time-sensitive as a result. Here are some examples of actions that could be found to be indirectly contemptuous:
- An attorney or party having a conversation with a juror after the trial begins
- Failing to obey a court order (as described above)
What remedies are available to a court when a finding of contempt is appropriate?
Once a judge has determined that an action committed either inside or outside the courtroom is contempt, the judge can respond to the contempt by applying various sanctions. These sanctions can be quasi-criminal in nature. This means that there is the potential for jail time as a part of having acted inappropriately.
Civil Contempt
Civil Contempt has the purpose of securing compliance with a court order. To be enforceable by civil contempt, the order has to be clear. This is why it is crucial that any court orders that you seek to enforce later on be clear about the expectations and responsibilities of all parties involved. What requirements must be met for a judge to hand down civil contempt punishments?
First, the person charged with contempt must receive complete notice of the conduct they are accused of. Next, they must have adequate notice of the court order they allegedly violated. Finally, the court must provide sufficient time for the individual to prepare a proper defense against the charges. If you are indigent and face time, they have the right to have an attorney appointed for you by the court. Finally, you must have had the ability to comply with the court order. If you can show that circumstances beyond your control made it impossible for you to comply with the court order, then that is a valid defense against a contempt charge.
Criminal contempt
The whole purpose of criminal contempt is to have the punishment be punitive in nature. This means that to punish your past behavior, the punishment handed out by the court is disproportionate to the violation of the court order. You see, criminal contempt handed down in direct contempt cases.
What evidence is available for use in a CPS case?
Child Protective Services cases present parties with unique situations. For instance, these are some of the few types of civil cases where the main “victim” is a child. Obtaining solid testimony from a child can be challenging, even though the child is often the person most involved in the case.
If your child under 12 is alleged to be a victim of abuse or neglect, their recorded statement may serve as admissible evidence in the trial. The recording must capture both visual and oral elements and cannot involve an attorney during the process. Additionally, the questions asked must avoid leading phrasing. Finally, all parties involved in the case must have the opportunity to review the recording before it is presented at trial.
What about hearsay testimony of a child abuse victim?
Hearsay is defined as an out-of-court statement used in court to prove the truth of the matter asserted. In a suit affecting the parent-child relationship, a statement made by your child who is twelve years old or young that describes the alleged abuse against him or her is admissible as evidence. However, the conditions that must be in place are that the court has found that the time, content, and circumstances of the statement provide sufficient indications of the statement’s reliability.
What duty does an attorney have to report allegations of abuse or neglect of a child?
The requirement to report abuse and/or neglect of a child applies to certain individuals without exception. This applies even if you share information with your attorney that would typically remain confidential under attorney-client privilege. This law affects professionals such as clergy, attorneys, doctors, nurses, and mental health professionals.
Can your child remain in foster care beyond their 18th birthday?
Extended foster care is possible based on a federal law that allows children to remain in foster care beyond their 18th birthday as long as they have either remained in school, are working, or are participating in a job training program.
Family visitation in CPS cases
No later than the thirtieth day after the Department of Family and Protective Services is named as the temporary managing conservator of your child, the agency must create a visitation plan that comes from collaboration with both parents. This is true, so long as the CPS investigation’s ultimate goal is to reunify you and your child.
To decide as to how long and how frequent these visits can be, the Department will need to consider what is in the best interest of the children, the child’s age, their desires about visitation with each parent, and the location where your child is relative to you and your family. You must file a plan at least ten days before any status hearing.
Once the judge has had an opportunity to review a visitation plan, he or she must prepare an order regarding each parent’s visitation with your child. If the judge believes that visitation between your child and either of his parents is not in his best interest, the court will need to render an order that specifies why that is. The order must specify a plan that grants the parent visitation time with their child and outlines the steps to achieve this.
Conclusion
The Department of Family and Protective Services has developed a no-contact visitation plan that requires documentation of why visitation is not in the child’s best interests. You must create a plan that allows you or the other parent to gain visitation rights with your child during the pendency of the case.
If the court determines that supervised visitation is in your child’s best interests, you must outline the details of those visitation sessions. Where visitation will occur, when visitation will occur, the time ranges for each visitation session, and who will be paying for the visitation session to occur at a licensed facility must be specified.
In summary, the question of whether you can adopt if you had a CPS case underscores the complexities and opportunities within the adoption process, including international adoption. Despite past involvement with Child Protective Services, local and international adoption remains a viable option for families committed to providing a nurturing environment for a child. While navigating this path may involve additional assessments and considerations, such as demonstrating rehabilitation and stability, many families successfully move forward with international adoption proceedings, offering loving homes and brighter futures to children in need.
More on visitation will be posted in tomorrow’s blog.
If you want to learn more about visitation related to a CPS investigation, check back on our blog tomorrow. We will provide more insights to help families navigate CPS cases and make the most of any available visitation sessions.
In the meantime, if you have any questions about the material that we have covered today, please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our licensed family law attorneys offer free of charge consultations six days a week here in our office. These consultations are a great opportunity to have an attorney listen to your questions and directly address your needs.
Other Articles you may be interested in:
- Courtroom Outbursts: A Helpful Guide To Avoid Contempt of Court
- The Legal Process of Filing Contempt of Divorce Decree in Texas
- Enforcement vs Contempt in Texas: The Same but Different
- How to stand up for yourself during a Texas CPS case
- How to prevent a second CPS investigation after your first concludes
- Family Law Cases in Texas: The final stages of a CPS case
- When can CPS remove your child from your home in Texas and what can you do about it?
- What to do if you no longer like your CPS service plan?
- In what circumstances could your child end up living with your relative during a CPS case?
- What can a CPS investigation into your family mean now and in the future?
- What to do if your spouse is being investigated by CPS in Texas for abuse or neglect of your child?
- Can CPS photograph your house and request your child’s medical records in Texas?
- Advice for adopting your stepchild in Texas
- Basic Information about Step Parent adoption in Texas
