losing my son to dhs

my son was taken from his mother by the dhs system. her and i were not together at the time and i was not involved with this at all but they seem to be using the fact that i do not have much money against me. how do i fight these people to get my son back? please help me as i am sure that the dhs will try to keep me from getting my son.

I am not an attorney or anything, but I have two adopted boys who were involved with DHS when their mother was declared mentally unfit to care for them. Both her rights and the father's had to be legally terminated before we could adopt. As for your situation- if you have been involved with your child all along, this will definately be a plus on your side. Believe it or not, the money situation is not going to matter as much to DHS as a lot of other factors will. It is not and never has been a crime to be poor. What will matter more is whether or not you keep a steady job, whether it pays well or not. In my experience, DHS does everything they can to re-unite the child with the parent(s) before they move to terminate parental rights. If you keep a job, can provide a clean and safe home for the child, have no previous criminal record, and show up for all court dates, you should have a very good chance to get custody of your child.

When the state removes children from the home, placement with the other parent or with another relative is always supposed to be considered first.

Then if there is not suitable placement with either of those, only THEN is the state supposed to place the child in foster care.

If you want custody of the children, you MUST fight.

If paternity was never established, you need to do that.

Get a hold of the caseworker and find out what you need to do.

If she or he isn't helpful, you might want to get legal counsel of your own to represent your interests.

But don't dillydally -- lack of action on your part will only hinder the chances of you getting this resolved in the way you want.

Good luck to you!

to sadme:

Well maybe the child IS better off with DHS, neither one of you seem to be responsible enough to make enough money to support a child.

So do whats right, give the child up for adoption.

BUT if you want your child back, YOU have a choice and being poor is NOT one of them.

Ignore the above post by hahaper. It's just one of many names recently being used by a disgruntled, ignorant jerk.

It is not, nor will it ever be, a crime to be poor, and children from poor families are often happier and better adjusted than those from affluent backgrounds.

As Darlene suggested, start your fight for your children immediately. Good luck!