DCFS the Department of Child and Family

Services is a government organization in

Illinois that

can be difficult to work with I spent

you know seven years working with DCFS

when I was at the public Guardians

office representing abuse and neglected

children and one of the reasons I left

uh was because I it was nearly

impossible to keep working with DCFS

when it came to family law private

practice and word got out that I had a

lot of experience with DCFS every

attorney I knew sent me their DCFS cases

because no one wanted them

um so I I just I felt that was The

Universe telling me this is a part of my

practice and this is where you know I

have been LED and honestly it’s some of

the most rewarding work because when

people call and say I just got a call

from DCFS the majority of my clients are

good people good parents no history no

background no anything and they get a

call out of nowhere that DCFS is calling

about their children and they are like

it’s the scariest moment in their entire

life you know I love being able to you

know calm them down talk them off the

ledge explain the process and explain

okay DCFS might be investigating you but

here’s the different ways that I can

help and the first thing that I can do

is prep them for the interview with the

DCFS investigator I can be there during

the interview with the investigator and

I can also be there when the

investigator interviews the children if

they are in fact indicated meaning the

DCFS investigator found credible

evidence to support abuse or neglect

then I can do what’s called an appeal a

DCFS appeal to try and get that

overturned

the next level would be adjudication

meaning DCFS is investigating they found

that there was urgent and immediate

necessity and probable cause in order to

take protective custody of the children

that’s when children are actually taken

into DCFS care there’s then what’s

called a temporary custody hearing when

the court is going to decide whether or

not those children come into the system

that’s a a very intense moment when I

get those frantic calls from parents if

they take protective custody the state

has only 48 hours to go to temporary

custody so that’s when I get a call you

know my schedule is always full right so

if I get a call for hey they just took

my children I don’t know what to do it’s

up in court in two days

that to me always comes first it’s the

highest priority of what I do and I will

absolutely make it work so that I can

help those parents in those crucial

times a lot of people say why do you

help parents that abuse and neglect

their children and uh the truth is I I

really I don’t feel that I do um when I

choose my clients

um and to a lot of great parents find

themselves in a crappy situation

um especially when you’re dealing with

divorce a lot of disgruntled spouses

ex-spouses like to call gcfs on their

exes so a lot of it isn’t uh fair or

factual or real and yet people say well

then how I well I’m sure it’s not going

to go anywhere then not true it can

still go somewhere unfortunately

especially if you have parents who are

bribing children saying you know when

they investigate you make sure you tell

them this and then you can come live

with me and I’ll give you all this stuff

so unfortunately it does happen

um and it’s very sad it can affect

people’s careers doctors lose their

license nurses lose their license

teachers can’t teach so it’s extremely

important and I take it very seriously

you know whether I win or lose a DCFS

cases it weighs weighs very heavily on

me it’s very important to me