We offer free advice, legal counsel, and/or representation to clients with legal concerns in the areas below:
Child welfare agency safety plans, navigating the CFSA investigation process, and custody planning (includes advice if your family is experiencing CPS investigation or has open CFSA Community/In-Home Case)
Low-income tax screening for child tax credit or earned income tax credit assistance
Child Protection Register expungement
We do not currently represent parents in underlying petitions for removal in DC Superior Court, however, as our capacity allows, we provide CFSA-involved parents holistic legal services in related civil legal issues, such as CPO, housing conditions, and certain custody matters.
Family Defense Law Webinars, Workshops, Know-Your-Rights Events and Clinics
Family Defense Law Webinars and Workshop:
Our educational programming is offered throughout the year, with certain programming provided on a seasonal basis. Check our events page and social media frequently for more dates and registration information. We provide community members with resources and information regarding topics that include the following: understanding the Child Protection Register, checking the CPR for your name, basics of agency safety plans, and issues and challenges related to agency safety plans; as well as other topics such as the basics of family law to include the definition of physical custody vs. legal custody and obtaining child support. We also partner with other legal and social support agencies to share more robust and related information to our community members.
We also conduct Know Your Rights events that include pop-up outreach in the community.
Additionally, our webinar series and workshops cover tax credits for no-income and low-wage workers.
Brief Services Provided
Our brief services include helping our clients with specific brief legal needs such as the following:
Drafting a “family defense safety plan” for prevention of CFSA involvement
Performing a Child Protection Register check
Reviewing and providing brief advice on existing CFSA agency safety plans
Drafting a custody complaint and other pleadings for parents experiencing CFSA interactions, based on our capacity
Referrals for extended legal representation and for other social support, counseling, and needs and goals to outside providers
We offer navigation services for claiming low-income federal and local child tax credits.
Extended Representation
We accept matters for extended representation depending on our priority areas and our capacity. For example, we represent clients on extended matters in these areas:
Pre-petition advocacy representation, or prevention representation, for the period from the initiation of a CPS investigation to the initiation of a petition being filed for removal.
As capacity allows, representation in collateral practice areas for individuals involved with or at risk of involvement with Child and Family Services Agency such as housing conditions, access to specialized housing vouchers, child custody, domestic violence survivor representation, and public benefits appeals.
Other matters pertaining to navigating CFSA involvement.
