If you are related to a child who is removed from their home

If you are related to a child who is removed from their home, you may have certain rights. Generally, relatives and close family friends get preference when the social worker decides where the child should live. This is the case as long as they are willing to care for the child, and as long as the social worker and the court find they are an appropriate placement.

Who is a relative

In dependency cases, a relative is often a sibling (brother/sister), stepparent, step-sibling, great or grand-relative (like a grandparent or great-grandparent), aunt or uncle. 

Close family friends and “non-relative extended family members” may also be entitled to have the child placed in their care. A non-related extended family member is an adult caregiver who has a family-like relationship with a relative of the child or a family-like or mentoring relationship with the child themselves.

Contact the social services department in your county right away if you hear that your relative is involved in a dependency case. Relatives have the right to get official notice that the child or youth has been removed from the parent(s) care. But if you are a close relative or friend of the family, you are likely to find out about the dependency case before the social worker has a chance to contact you.
 

Rights of relatives and important family connections

Within 30 days of taking a child from their home, the social worker must send notice of the dependency case to all grandparents, adult siblings, and all other adult relatives. 

This notice must include:

  • That the child has been removed from their parents or guardian 
  • Information about providing care and placement for the child while the family receives reunification services with the goal of returning the child to the parent or guardian
  • How to become a foster family home (now known as resource family home) or approved relative or nonrelative extended family member
  • Additional services and supports that are available in out-of-home placements, such as the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment Program (Kin-Gap), the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, and the Adoption Assistance Program
  • Options for contact with the child, like visitation and other options 
  • The rights and options that the relatives may lose if they do not respond to the notice

Relatives will also be notified if there is a court hearing for a permanent plan and the child’s parents’ whereabouts and address are unknown. The court makes a permanent plan for the child only if the parents have failed to get the child back in their care. The permanent plan could be adoption, legal guardianship, placement with a fit and willing relative, or foster care.

If a child you are related to is taken from their parents, the child could be placed in your care before the first court hearing, or soon after the first court hearing. For this to happen, you must tell the social worker that you want to have the child placed with you. If you do not have the social worker’s phone number, contact the social services agency in your county.

If you want the judge to place the child in your care, you must come forward. 

The law says that social workers and the court must consider placing a child with relatives before considering placing the child with a non-related person. But the court and social worker will not consider relatives unless they come forward and let the social worker know. Make sure to contact the social worker. Don’t wait for the social worker to contact you.
 

If you have received official notice from the agency that your relative has been removed, contact the number on that letter as soon as possible. In addition to placement, you may be able to provide other types of support or stay in contact with the child. You could also be provided visitation if the court determines that it is in the child’s best interest.

You can fill out Relative Information (form JV-285) and give it to the judge’s clerk. This will provide the judge with information about you and your desire to participate. 

After you say that you want the child placed with you, the social worker will do an inspection of your home. The social worker will also do a criminal background check of you and any other adults in your home and check for allegations of child abuse or neglect. If your home is safe and you have nothing more than minor traffic violations on your record, the child may be placed with you.

If you or someone in your home has a criminal history, the social worker may not be able to place the child with you, unless there is an exemption available. If you can get an exemption depends on what the crime or arrest was for and how long ago it happened. There are some crimes that the social worker cannot get an exemption for. The exemption process takes time, but in the end, the judge may place the child with you temporarily if the judge determines that there is no health or safety risk. Talk to the social worker in the case or speak with a lawyer to find out more about the timelines and further legal requirements for exemptions.

If the child is placed with you, you can tell the court how the child is doing in your care. To do this, you can use Caregiver Information (form JV-290).

Children removed from their homes have the right to visit their siblings, half-siblings, and adult siblings.

Others rights if you are removed 

The sibling, half-sibling, or adult sibling of a child who has been removed from their home can use a Request to Change Court Order (form JV-180) to ask the court to recognize the sibling relationship and give the sibling visitation with the child who has been removed. The court must allow siblings to visit if it is in the best interest of the child who has been removed.

An adult sibling can also use this form to ask the court to have their sibling placed in their care.

If your relative is not placed with you, the social worker will make a recommendation to the judge about whether you should visit with your relative. The judge is required to consider letting you visit the child if it is in the child's best interest.

The judge will make this decision based on the information in the social worker’s report and any other information the judge has heard during the court hearings. It is important to remember that the judge does not have to let you visit with your relative. 

Juvenile dependency

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