Divorce Attorney: Terminating of Parental Rights in Louisiana

When faced with the Office of Child Service (OCS) - it should be noted that this group recently changed its name to the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, but most people understand it better as OCS -- threatening to take your children, it is important to know your legal rights. Sometimes your case is a losing one and you would like to know more information. If you feel OCS is threatening to take children away, you should make sure that you contact a divorce attorney or other lawyer that can let you know what is required of you to prevent that from happening. When OCS seeks to terminate parental rights, it is a very serious matter. When this happens, you may be forever stripped away from your child. This is why it is vital for you to make sure that you are fully prepared to challenge OCS' decisions and/or recommendations.

Sometimes parents neglect their children to the point of it harming the children such that a state agency determines that it is required to intervene. But, when this happens, child services may step in and seek to terminate your parental rights. For example, Charley and Sally while married. During the marriage Sally is a drug addict. She takes her children to bars and they do not do their homework. This situation could result in OCS removing the child, and the two parents working with a divorce attorney or other lawyer to figure out how they will respond.

Who do you think is going to get custody in this situation? From the perspective of a divorce attorney, it could be that Charley will be awarded custody in this situation provided that he is able to provide an adequate environment for the children. However, there are circumstances that arise which may cause both parents not to have custody of their children. Without question the trial court is invested a great discretion on its factual findings.

The Louisiana Civil Code states and acknowledges that there are certain instances whereby a nonparent can still get some visitation even if they do not get typical custody, if the court makes a determination that this is best for the child. (If the state decides that it needs to intervene and remove a child or children from the care, custody, and control of the parents, it likely has sufficient grounds to assert that there are extraordinary circumstances.) There are several factors which the court shall consider: first the court is required to consider the length and quality of the relationship between the child and the relative. In a nutshell this means a court is going to look at whether the child and the relative relate to each other. A court is likely not going to award custody if the relative does not treat the child well. Hence, this is why the first factor is very important.

Will Beaumont is a New Orleans divorce attorney, and generally does not work with OCS. This article is informational, not legal advice.