Working With the Florida Department of Children and Families
The Florida DCF motto is: "Protect the vulnerable, promote strong and economically self-sufficient families, and advance personal and family recovery and resiliency." What this means on a practical level is that on occasion children are removed from their parents' homes.
At our law firm — we work to get them back into their homes.
The Law Office of Amy L. Beauchaine represents parents who want to have their children returned to them. Attorney Beauchaine is a former senior attorney at the DCF and has been involved in hundreds of child welfare hearings in Juvenile Dependency Court.
Your child may be removed due to allegations of:
- Child abuse, including physical abuse
- Child neglect, most often due to a parent's substance abuse problem
- Child abandonment
- Child endangerment if the parents are involved in domestic violence
In some instances one parent has a drug or alcohol problem, and the other parent will still need to fight to have the children returned home after the offending parent is removed from the home. In still other instances, there may be a drug or alcohol evaluation followed by either treatment or counseling prior to returning the child to the parents.
Options and Solutions
If your children have been removed by Florida's DCF, there are a few options — all of which require an attorney:
- Hire an attorney to represent you alone, and seek to gain custody of your children.
- Grandparents or other relatives may seek custody while parents receive treatment or counseling.
- Share an attorney with your spouse to represent you in obtaining custody again.
- A parent may obtain a court-appointed attorney only if he or she is determined by the court to be indigent.
Moving Your Family Forward
To get you and your family moving on a path toward a brighter future, please contact the Maitland Law Office of Amy L. Beauchaine at 407-447-1244 or send our post-divorce modification lawyer and Orlando juvenile dependency attorney an e-mail.
