Case dismissed, family services still substantiated

Scream

New Member
Jurisdiction
Vermont
Hi all,

I have quite a lengthy case here. It does not fall into one category, so I chose one and put it there. I apologize if it belongs in another area.

In fact, this is more than just one case. It has been going on for 9 years, and has multiple aspects to it. However they are all linked.

2011 - My child is born

2013 - Mother leaves, and refuses contact. I file in court.

April 2014 - Custody is awarded to me by the court.

August 2014 - Mother accuses me of attacking her, I am arrested, court date is set.

2015 - Court and a jury finds that I am not guilty. Custody remains with me.

May 2016: The mother of my child files a case against me claiming neglect and sexual abuse of our child.

May 2016: Department of Children and Families picks up the case and files a CHINS case against me. Note, that the worker assigned to the case had a huge conflict of interest. My mother was this worker's former boss, and had suspended her the year prior. Eventually a conflict of interest was established, but not before the worker had a chance to file the CHINS case, and write a letter to the worker that would be picking up the case. This letter was incredibly negative, and set the ground work for the new worker.

Early June 2016: Temporary hearing held, court finds no reason to change custody while waiting for final hearing. Unknown to me a family services substantiates regardless, and adds me to their Agency of Human Services child abuse registry.

Late June 2016: I receive letter that I am now on the AHS child abuse registry, detailing how to request a review. I call the same day to request a review, and am told that it is too late. That more than 14 days have passed since I've been added to the registry.

October 2016: Final hearing held, and dismissed. Court finds all allegations against me to not be credible, and orders the CHINS be dropped. Court tells family services to remove me from the registry. Afterwards, family services claims that they do not have to obey the judge in regards to removing me from the registry.

Fast forward to today. I am denied multiple jobs due to being on the AHS registry despite proving in a court that I did not abuse my child. I still have full custody, and still deal with the spiteful ex.

DCF should not be allowed to simply disobey the judge, and should not be allowed to do whatever they want. I proved my innocence, that should be enough.

How do I:
A) Get this erroneous entry on the registry overturned.
B) Sue DCF for damages, and a policy change so this doesn't happen to others in the future.
 
In 2016, did you go back in front of the judge that issued the order for you to be removed from the registry? You should have as soon as they refused to follow the court order. You will likely need a copy of that order and then will need to work your way up at DCFS. If that doesn't work, then you will need to go back to court and ask that they be found in contempt. You'll need an attorney at that point.

EDIT: My response above addressed inquiry "A" above. Inquiry "B" is not likely to get any traction. You may be able to ask for sanctions if you end up back in court over this.
 
In 2016, did you go back in front of the judge that issued the order for you to be removed from the registry? You should have as soon as they refused to follow the court order. You will likely need a copy of that order and then will need to work your way up at DCFS. If that doesn't work, then you will need to go back to court and ask that they be found in contempt. You'll need an attorney at that point.

EDIT: My response above addressed inquiry "A" above. Inquiry "B" is not likely to get any traction. You may be able to ask for sanctions if you end up back in court over this.

The problem I am running into, is that it is a juvenile case. The records are sealed, and on the surface there is no official "order" for them to remove me from the registry. It simply states the CHINS case be dropped. The judge did tell them that adding me to the registry was ridiculous and petty, and needed to be overturned.

Attached is the end of the court transcript, which is all that I have access to, as the actual documents are sealed.

You say that suing the state is not likely to gain traction. Why is that? They have cost me multiple jobs, and the worker they assigned had a massive conflict of interest. Furthermore they were found to have asked leading questions of my daughter, and only included part of the interview with her.
 

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The records are sealed, and on the surface there is no official "order" for them to remove me from the registry.

There are NO star chambers in this nation.
That means EVERYTHING surrounding a court case is never really sealed, hidden sometimes, but not truly sealed.

Sealed implies no one ever learns of what was done or said.
Not true, SOMEONE always knows or can access the case/files.

A) Get this erroneous entry on the registry overturned

Talk to a few Appellate attorneys in your state.
I doubt that anyone will have success in appealing a six year old ruling.

That said, an Appellate attorney in your state will be able to DEFINITIVELY answer you queries.
 
There are NO star chambers in this nation.
That means EVERYTHING surrounding a court case is never really sealed, hidden sometimes, but not truly sealed.

Sealed implies no one ever learns of what was done or said.
Not true, SOMEONE always knows or can access the case/files.



Talk to a few Appellate attorneys in your state.
I doubt that anyone will have success in appealing a six year old ruling.

That said, an Appellate attorney in your state will be able to DEFINITIVELY answer you queries.

The 6 year old ruling doesn't need to be appealed, it needs to be upheld. I was found innocent.
 
I'm sorry that my earlier post wasn't more clear.

Speak
to
an
Attorney

If I had money for an attorney, I wouldn't be seeking legal advice on a forum online.

Your post was clear, what gave you the impression that I thought it wasn't?

I wasn't understanding the purpose of Army Judge's meme post
 
If I had money for an attorney, I wouldn't be seeking legal advice on a forum online.
Unfortunately I don't see anything in the court transcript from the judge stating that your data should be purged from the child abuse registry, only that you were found not guilty. Now, that in theory should kick off some sort of a process to have your data removed, but the reality is that government authorities are much better at putting bad data into various registries than they are at taking it out (mainly because people are imperfect and introduce errors).

Since you can't afford an attorney I would try reaching out to your state delegate/representative, state senator, and the attorney general's office. Ask what the procedure is to have erroneous information removed from this particular registry. Most IT systems will have some sort of process in place for data corrections, it's just a matter of figuring out what it is and getting it done.
 
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