I am 19 years old & I have a 4 year old son. About a year and a half ago my son was taken due to personal reasons. After about 6 months cps was going to give my son back but my aunt got something signed by a judge saying otherwise. My aunt wanted me to get a job, car, and home of my own before considering giving him back . I got all 3 and a lawyer. After almost 2 years now the case has gone nowhere. I am hardly getting any visitation with my son and if any its supervised. My aunt and her lawyer are not getting back to my lawyer so the case is going nowhere. I want my son back. What can I do?

How are you paying for this lawyer, and how much?

The practice of law is a business. If money is no object, there may be many things that can be done. If the lawyer is doing this pro bono, it's another story.

If your aunt is dragging her feet, there may be things that can be done. But you really have not given us enough detail to allow you to second-guess your lawyer's decisions.

He usually charged an hourly fee but because money is an object he charged $1000.00 to do the entire case. My grandmother paid that for me. What other details are needed and I will see if a can provide more.

That's why, your attorney has no financial incentive. You have probably long ago exhausted the $1K.

Why did CPS take your child in the first place. What did your aunt get signed that prevented CPS from returning your child? Why should your aunt have any say in what you need to do get back your child. Where is this happening? Where is the child's father?

My child's father is only active in his life in the sense that he pays child support. He is a member of the us military and is in afganistan. When I was 17 years old I made bad choices. But my cps case is closed my aunt got a docket signed saying I can not change my sons address which is her's I can't take him out of school etc. and my visitation will be every 1st 3rd and 5th weeked supervised which I have not gotten. I see my son maybe once a month if that. Can I write to the judge about my concerns? Is that possible? I'm not sure what I can do here but I do know I have my own home I now have a 8mnth old son I have everything I need to support my children. Can I go speak to a judge myself since no action is being taken I am after all his mother

You can dismiss your attorney and change to pro se (representing yourself) then go to the judge. But if you are going up aqainst an attorney there is a strong likelihood you will lose.

I really don't understand how, if CPs closed the case, your aunt got a court order. And if you got visitation and the aunt is not allowing then your attorney should be filing contempt of court charges against her.

I'm guessing its because I'm getting visits just not as often as I should. You see, my aunt has money and lots of it so if I were to go at her alone I would lose. My son deserves to be with his mother he is only 4 years old but I garuntee if he was asked if he wanted to live with me or her he would choose me but he's just not old enough to make that choice in court. Now what happened with cps was that my caseworker was waiting to get the paperwork from her supervisor stating that I could go get my son but before she could get the paperwork my aunt had already had the order signed so it didn't matter. Now are you telling me that beause I have an attorney I can't go to a judge myself or talk to anyone in the justice system?

Correct, As long as you have an attorney of record you usually cannot approach the court without your counsel.

So your aunt got an order signed preventing CPS from returning your son to you. Were you ever given a chance to fight this? That is not the way courts are supposed to work. Yes, she could have gotten an ex parte order to prevent the return of your son, but that would have to have been a temporary order pending a court hearing on the issue. If such a hearing was never held something is wrong and your attorney should have had the order vacated since you were denied due process.

And it doesn't matter that you get to see your son sometimes. If you have a court order stating you get him the 1st, 3rd and 5th weekends, then you get him those weekends. If you show up and she denies you visitation, then the following Monday your attorney should be in court asking that she be held in contempt.

That's what they are is temporary orders. And we went to court and because I had no job no place to live and vehicle my attorney said I had no choice but to agree that he stay there at that time temporarily. But that was a year ago and now I have all of that and the judge isn't allowing a hearing to modify the teporary orders until we have mediation. My attorney says the ball is in my aunts attorneys court on that but her attorney says that she hasn't spoken to her so we've been stuck for months now. My lawyer says we are waiting on movement from their side but if they aren't doing anything and aren't cooperating can't there be something that can push this along? They can't just keep stalling can they?

Ok,now its making more sense. Your attorney should file a petition to force the aunt to set a mediation date. Your attorney should show that he has tried to arrange the mediation and that the aunt just keeps stalling. And, in the meantime, is in contempt of court by not allowing visitation according to the terms of the temporary order.

Or your attorney should make an appointment with a mediator for a time, maybe 30 days in the future, and send your aunt and her attorney notice of the appointment. Copy the court. If the aunt fails to show, then the next day your attorney should be in court pointing out that the aunt failed to appear and asking that the temp order be vacated.

While all this filing is going on be sure to tell your attorney that the opposing side should be paying for it too. Make sure he asks for it in your filings. If she has plenty of money then he should have no problem collecting it.

I don't understand?

If your attorney requests it and the courts gant it the other side will pay the lawyer bill and filing fees for everything on both sides.