Help when children falsely removed by DCFS in Cook County, IL

Who to Contact if children falsely removed by DCFS

The Family Defense Center

70 E. Lake St, Suite 1100
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: 312-251-9800
Fax: 312-251-9801
fdc@familydefensecenter.org

The Family Defense Center is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advocate justice for families in the child welfare system. We advocate for families who need our help the most: families threatened with losing their children to foster care. Nothing is more painful for a child than to be taken from the only parents he or she knows. Yet, child protection systems throughout America frequently remove children from parents as a first resort, not a last resort. Many parents lose custody of their children to state foster care systems primarily because they are poor or because they are victims of abuse themselves. Far too many children in foster care bounce from home to home and are separated from siblings. Any family can be the victim of a false, harassing, or misguided Hotline call.

We handle the following types of cases:

We do not generally handle the following types of cases:

Ongoing DCFS investigations for abuse or neglect Safety Plan negotiations Appeals of Indicated findings and Administrative Review Actions A limited number of Juvenile Court cases in which DCFS is attempting to take protective custody if we have been counseling the client during an open investigation Civil rights cases alleging violations of the 4th and 14th amendments. Precedential appellate cases

Divorce Parentage/paternity Child Support Criminal cases Open Juvenile Court cases (this means that if your Juvenile Court case has already started when you first contact us, we will most likely not be able to offer you legal representation) Adoption Private custody cases Guardianship Cases in Domestic Relations Court such as Orders of Protection DCFS foster care placement appeals