January 30, 2016

January 30, 2016

Female: Hello.

Vincent Davis: Oh, there you are, good morning. How are you?

Female: [0:00:05 inaudible]. I’m calling in regards to an open case involved with the Department of Children and Family Services. It’s been open for two and a half years and I have gone through the office to see much of the current court appointed attorney but I was said that I have to have an appointment. So anyhow, I’ve been trying to get a JV-180 to be completed by him, but that’s not happening. How do I get that document?

Vincent Davis: Okay, well you can go into Google and you can just type in California — excuse me — with JV-180 and the form will come up. That form —- by online, but it’s important that you have —

Female: Okay, I see.

Vincent Davis: But it’s important that you have your attorney’s assistance in filling that properly.

Female: Okay.

Vincent Davis: Because once you file for JV-180, the court makes the determination about whether you should have the hearing or not have the hearing and it’s important for you to have if you’re granted a hearing, that you and your attorney work together to prepare for that hearing or trial. —- the JV-180 hearings by way of trial, it’s going to be done by way of argument, so it’s important that you prepare that JV-180 with confidence, with exact location, with equipment and authorities and those are things that you particularly need in your journey to assist you on.

Female: Okay.

Vincent Davis: Okay?

Female: Okay.

Vincent Davis: You said, did you make an appointment towards your court-appointed attorney and he or she couldn’t meet with you?

Female: I have not been able to get a hold of him. I’ve been calling him the whole week and I’ve called at eight o’clock in the morning. I’ve called at nine. I’ve called at noon, three PM and no luck. And I have not received a phone call from him either.

Vincent Davis: Have you left messages?

Female: I’m sorry?

Vincent Davis: Have you left messages?

Female: Yes, I have and I forward him the email — I cc him on an email for a request to file a decision with my children for this present hearing coming up, I have done my best to not reply back to the social worker on the comments that she’s making that, accusing me of not feeding my children as well as accusing me of not caring for them during the visit. And I do have pictures where I have my children eating, where we make sandwiches or we buy fruit and we eat food.

Vincent Davis: When is your next court date?

Female: It’s not until May.

Vincent Davis: When was your last court date?

Female: It was in November, November 10.

Vincent Davis: And when —-

Female: I actually bought reunification services in my last court. Prior to that they were to be terminated.

Vincent Davis: Okay, so you kind of started with some kind of joke.

Female: Yes, it’s been two and a half years.

Vincent Davis: Wow, well I think that you —

Female: The hold up was — the hold up was the conjoint therapy. I didn’t have access to take my children to the therapy and the social worker was not accommodating to make arrangements to have the children go to the therapist. That took about a whole year just to get that arranged.

Vincent Davis: And how is that working out for you?

Female: It is not working out for me.

Vincent Davis: What seems to be the problem?

Female: The first accusations, allegations that are being made, it seems like at this point of my life I feel that the only reason they gave me a reunification services was to keep their business open, just to stay in business. I’m not feeling confident about the court system and the relationship with the court-appointed attorney and the judge is not a good one. I can feel the tension between them.

Vincent Davis: I see. Is your case in court?

Female: Yes.

Vincent Davis: Will you do me a favor, would you call me later on this week, in the end of the week or next week so that perhaps we can talk about your case some more in detail because you are probably before you’ve been given, needs to ask six months of reunification and then they may want to terminate the reunification services and they may want to propose that the children if someone who wants to adopt them or keep them permanently. And I think that’s a huge mistake —-.

So would you consider doing that?

Female: I do — I’m having a very difficult time hearing you because your words cut off. There’s a lot of static.

Vincent Davis: Well I apologize.

Female: I can hear you a little bit, but it’s a little faint.

Vincent Davis: I apologize. This is what happens, I’m having a technical difficulty this morning with our microphone.

Female: Yes, I understand.

Vincent Davis: I was saying can you call me this week?

Female: Yes.

Vincent Davis: To speak to me so that we can perhaps talk about your case a little bit more —

Female: When is the best time to call you?

Vincent Davis: Well call this number. Do you have a pen and a paper, I’ll give you the number.

Female: Yes. Yes, I do. I’m sorry, is it 208582?

Vincent Davis: No. It’s 888, 888-6582.

Female: 888-6582.

Vincent Davis: Yes, and the area code is 888-

Female: So I have here 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 numbers.

Vincent Davis: Yes, that’s the area code and —

Female: That’s 888 — okay, I have 888 as the area code and then I have 888-6582 as the phone number.

Vincent Davis: Yes, that is correct.

Female: Okay. And what time should I call?

Vincent Davis: You can call me anytime. If I’m not there, you can leave the message and I will call you back with probably within six business hours.

Female: Okay, perfect.

Vincent Davis: Thanks for your call.

Female: Thank you so much, I appreciate it.

Vincent Davis: Okay, I’m going to take another call from area code 213 with the telephone ending in 75. Hello, you are on with Vincent Davis.

Male: Hello.

Vincent Davis: Hello.

Male: Hello?

Vincent Davis: Hello?

Male: Hello, hello, hello?

Vincent Davis: Hi, how can I help you?

Male: Hello. Yeah, I’m wondering do if you have a case open and I already pleaded to something, is there any way to appeal it?

Vincent Davis: Certain hearings, for example you can appeal the disposition hearing, you can appeal your six-month review hearings and you can appeal with basically they call it —- family reunification services have been terminated for the hearing. For instance —– have been terminated —-

Male: Well, I have my kids. They gave them back to us last year and then I guess somebody called in on us and we’re supposed to already get the case terminated and everything two weeks before, and then so when we had our next court date, they took them both from us again and they — like the public defenders for, you know, the offices part of their best bet was to keep the deal they’re offering to plead no contest to somebody that wasn’t true and saying no matter what we would allow [0:09:31 inaudible] but now that I do think about it because, you know, they got the something that we didn’t do that people said which will go and testify for us that they didn’t say it.

So I was just wondering if there’s a way to appeal, if I could still appeal that, like they got us doing everything all over again, it’s been three years already like we did the whole program and —

Vincent Davis: Well there is a way to appeal. There are time limits to an appeal, but have you talked to your attorney about the time limits and about appealing?

Male: No. I don’t talk to him at all. He only talks to me on the court dates.

Vincent Davis: Well that’s not a good strategy for you. You’re going to have to talk to your attorney to get some advice on what to do.

Male: Do you think it’s better to get my own private attorney, like not go to them?

Vincent Davis: Well, if you’re telling me that you have a bad relationship with your attorney, court-appointed attorney, it might be helpful if you do get a private attorney to help with your case and move forward to help get you your children back.

Male: Yeah, because I think that the attorney for them, like the public defender is like wants to help them now more than us, you know.

Vincent Davis: That’s not a good appeal to have. Generally these court-appointed attorneys are very experiences attorneys, but I do hear folks like you complain. I hear folks complain about private attorneys as well. So what I would suggest to you is that you can call around and you speak to some attorneys and that, you know, perhaps you may consider hiring the person you’re most comfortable with.

Male: Yeah.

Vincent Davis: But let me ask you this, when was your last court date?

Male: The last one was in December.

Vincent Davis: In December and when is the next?

Male: Our next one is on June I think.

Vincent Davis: Okay. So assuming that the December court date is what they call disposition and a jurisdictional hearing, you have 60 days to file a notice of appeal.

Male: All right.

Vincent Davis: So if your case was in the middle of December, you have until 60 days from there to file a notice of appeal and that would — that date probably would come on up.

Male: Yeah, that’s just the file, right, like, so I just have to get on that and file this? I want to know another question too, say that, all right like can they really — can you get — is there any way to get the actual word for word that was said at the last court date or one of the court dates?

Vincent Davis: Yes, there is, yes, there is.

Male: Because they’ve used the minute order, but they used the minute order as, I guess they wrote down not what happens word for word you know. And from word for word when the judge gave us back our kids, he told us that we didn’t have to test on demand — we have to test on demand only if they have reason that we were hiding. And now all of a sudden we get a new social working like halfway through the six months and he starts calling us every week to go test on demand, but the judge — I don’t remember saying none of the other stuff and they won’t get the minute order for the actual word for word like everything she said when he gave us back the kids.

Vincent Davis: So if you file — first of all, you can order the transcript on your own. You can go to the —-

Male: I can? All right.

Vincent Davis: It’s a written form, but if you file a notice of appeal you will get all the court transcripts, all the court minute orders, all the social worker reports and what’s known as a record on appeal and you will have a say. And you can also get a copy — you can also get a copy of your case appointments.

Male: All right, because our last — the last court date we had an investigator investigating us for whatever allegations they had against us. And she whatever her alleged allegations were, was the exact same report that she gave to the judge that she found like that we are guilty of whatever. But like how can she know that she said, like she spoke and talked to my family members on all of these, she never did. They said that they never talked to her, she never even told her anything. Is there any way to fight that? Is that just on the — do you have to fight it?

My court-appointed attorney wasn’t hearing everything I’m saying. He just wanted me to take the deal, to plead no contest, you know, so everything I told him, he didn’t even bother. He had like some answer for us that they are going to win no matter what, you know. This was the best bet for us, if not, they’re going to charge us with other things, the wording like the report they said. She said it was a good deal because they took a lot of wording out of the report, so it’s good for us to plead no contest to whatever they had [0:14:49 inaudible] so we would have lost when we are in a trial.

Vincent Davis: I see. I can’t comment about whether that was good advice or bad advice, I just don’t know, but I just don’t know if all of them was —-

Male: Yeah.

Vincent Davis: But were you able to meet with your attorney before the court date?

Male: No, not before. Just like before we went into the court that day, that same day, he never tried calling me and you know, I don’t even know how I can get a hold of him. He says, he’s always in court, so to email him and he’ll try to get back to us, but he’s never, you know. Actually one of the court date, I didn’t see him in the court date, he has an assistant out there.

Vincent Davis: Yeah. One of the things that I tell all the listeners is if you’re going to have a court date —

Male: Well, we don’t know none of this was happening, it was just so happened out of nowhere you know. Like within one week, they called us and they said that they’re taking the kids and we have to go to the court and this just so happens sort of quick, you know, or somebody called on them and said something.

Vincent Davis: Did the judge order you to do what’s called a reunification service to present a case plan?

Male: Yeah, I still have that reunification. That’s what they started me over and the program and everything like I have to do the whole six months all over again. I did it last year and I got them back and now I’m starting all over again.

Vincent Davis: Okay. So what did the judge ordered you to do?

Male: Just a program, parenting and counseling and after-care program I guess, any class or whatever. But I see I’d never took a dirty for them at all, not once. I didn’t test for them, like they have like for the last six months that when I have my kids back because the judge said we didn’t have to, you know. So that’s what they’re trying to get me at, it’s for not testing, it’s the same as dirty. But if that was the case of testing on demand every week, I would have already called a member to meet every other week, you know.

Vincent Davis: Where are your children right now?

Male: Where are they?

Vincent Davis: Yes.

Male: They’re at my auntie.

Vincent Davis: So your children are with a relative.

Male: Huh?

Vincent Davis: Your children are with a relative?

Male: Yeah, they’re with a relative, yeah. She is the one that had them when they first took them, you know, so we asked her as they went back to her like when they took them the second time.

Vincent Davis: Do you get along with your aunt?

Male: Oh yeah, yeah, we went to visit like every weekend and we try to go to weekdays and all. And another thing too — huh?

Vincent Davis: Go ahead.

Male: They actually — they lived, like where my aunt live it’s kind of far from where I’m at, so we’re trying to get them down to come live with my mom, you know, because it’s way closer to us. But they said that we have to go some group, like a group meeting I guess with everybody and they have to decide if we’re doing good enough for them to let the kids come back. Is that true?

Vincent Davis: Is that true, it sounds like a yes.

Male: No, I mean, my mom is already — she’s been like scanned and everything, and like the grandmother then, that’s why we want the kids closer to us because they’re not going to take an hour away from us, but they said it’s up to the social worker and I guess like whoever else, the supervisor if they think, you know, if they think it’s a good place, like good enough for them. But she’s already scanned. She used the monitor unless when we have the kids back, they should be able to give it to her anyway.

Vincent Davis: Yes and no. There is a preference.

Male: What is what?

Vincent Davis: What city do you live in?

Male: For me, I live in San Fernando and my kids live in Palm Bay Area right now.

Vincent Davis: And where do your relatives live that you want to take the kids with?

Male: I want them to come back to San Fernando with my mom. We’re not living with my mom ever since this has happened. Like me and my girlfriend, we moved out, so it would be easier for my mom to get the kids, you know.

At first when all this happened, we’re going to give up our rights to her. We’re going to give up our rights to our kids to my mom just to get them out of the system, but they said it doesn’t work like that or something, that they have to go to a court hearing and all this other bullshit. They have to decide if it’s good enough or something, like, it’s all relative, we won again, so can we? They’re trying to say that the judge have to decide on it and the social worker have to decide on it. And my own PD was telling me that, do you want me to tell the judge that we are going to give up rights to them, because if that’s the way this happens, we just say, like maybe we should give rights to my mom and get them out of the system. But they said that there’s a whole process and the judge has to agree, everybody has to agree.

And then when we do give up our rights, they don’t have to give it to my mom, they can give them to whoever they want.

Vincent Davis: Okay. Well basically talk to your court appointed attorney, try to get the children moved and make sure that you plead your programs that the judge had ordered, okay?

Male: All right and through a period just find my own private attorney to do that, you think?

Vincent Davis: No, well first of all, I want to talk to your court appointed attorney before —- help you to there is a way to get the court appointed appellate attorney, but if you don’t have any success to either of those, give us a call in the office and we may be able to assist you.

Male: All right. What’s your number, do you — can I get your number, do you have some?

Vincent Davis: Yes. Do you have a pen?

Male: Yes, go ahead.

Vincent Davis: 888.

Male: 888.

Vincent Davis: 888-6582, 6582, so that’s 888-888-6582.

Male: 888-888-6582, all right, I got it. And what’s the best time to give you a call, like during the week?

Vincent Davis: Yes, call me during the week at any time, if I’m not, then leave a message and I’ll get right back to you within a few hours.

Male: All right, perfect and we can just talk — maybe we can talk in person and I can tell you the story about it.

Vincent Davis: Okay.

Male: All right, thank you.

Vincent Davis: Very good and good luck to you.

Male: Huh?

Vincent Davis: Good luck to you.

Male: All right, thank you.

Vincent Davis: Thank you.

Male: Bye.

Vincent Davis: —- in this particular case to have your child back —- apparently there are a lot of —- when this child is currently in a foster home. So the next thing that I do and that you ask for is you ask for what is called a bonding study. A bonding study is where a psychiatrist or psychologist gives us their professional opinion after meeting the parent and meeting with the child about whether there is an emotional bond or a psychological bond, a particular bond between the parent and the child.

The reason why we do this is that the most importa