Focus Keyphrase: "MA DCF Case Study: Challenging Child Neglect Allegations"

Case Highlights:

DCF alleged that Mom and Dad allowed Child to smoke marijuana at home
Originally only Dad faced allegations of neglect
Mom also part of the investigation but had no idea and no notice from DCF
DCF interviewed each family member with no supervision, many conflicting stories
Once they hired Attorney Seaver, the family had a plan to deal with DCF
The original allegations were ultimately unsupported

Case Study:

A 51A was filed against Dad for neglect. DCF came to see Mom and notify her of these allegations but gave no indication that she was being investigated as well. Once Mom found out about the allegations of neglect against her, she filed for a DCF Fair Hearing. After a long waiting period, Mom was able to get a hearing. She planned to represent herself and prepared evidence that proved she had not been neglectful. During this process, she learned a lot about parents rights against DCF, especially the importance of understanding the procedures and preparing adequately for such hearings. At the Fair Hearing, however, DCF supported allegations of neglect against Mom. Throughout this entire process, Mom’s due process rights had been violated.

The mother appealed this decision and lost. The case was then sent up to the Superior Court. Mom was given a second chance for appeal. The mother knew that this time around she needed representation from an attorney if she wanted to be taken seriously.She hired Attorney Kevin Seaver because she needed someone who would fight against DCF for her rights. Attorney Seaver broke down the case. He provided DCF with the correct documentation to show that DCF had not followed their own statutes. As a result, Mom’s rights had been violated. The DCF social worker was cross-examined. It turned out that her testimony contradicted her reports. As a result, the hearing officer reversed the decision. It was found that Mom had not been neglectful. The mother’s dreams for her case were realized, as DCF was out of her life and her child was not taken.

DISCLAIMER

You find yourself in this situation, it’s advisable to seek legal representation from a qualified attorney, like those at the Law Office of Kevin Seaver, who can advocate for your rights and guide you through the complex process of a DCF investigation.

Remember that the ultimate goal of DCF is to ensure the safety and well-being of children while supporting families in crisis.

Please note that this article does not create an Attorney-Client relationship between our law firm and the reader and is provided for informational purposes only. Information in this article does not apply to all readers.

Readers should not rely on this information as legal advice and should seek specific counsel from the attorney based on personal circumstances. Thank you.

Kevin Patrick Seaver is a Massachusetts DCF Defense Lawyer who represents parents against false child abuse allegations.

Massachusetts DCF Defense Lawyer Kevin Seaver has been successfully fighting false child abuse allegations since 1991.

Kristen Fox says:

I had reached out to the firm a while back about being completely trampled on by dcf, with allegations that are soo far fetched it has now ultimately tarnished my name. There have been allegations about me that are so false and back in October they did end up ripping my daughter away from me and her brother. I 100 percent DO NOT abuse or neglect my children, I never have. I also have been abstinent from alcohol for 5 years now and don’t use drugs. I always was an everyday marijuana smoker basically since I was 16 years old and once they took my daughter from me I have refrained from using it, even tho this is something that had become more medically used than anything. I have wanted to get a medical card but I have had so many issues come my way it just takes a back burner. I currently reside at 859 Massachusetts Avenue which is a family shelter. I have been here since June 28, 2022. My daughter and I started our shelter journey back in 2017 and I just finally got a section 8 voucher this past September. I know have everyone and their mothers threatening to take the voucher away if I don’t meet their deadlines on leasing up with an apartment. It’s crazy because I’m the 1st one who wants this apartment and can not wait to live like I should have been living a long time ago with my 2 kids right by my side. The court says I will get my daughter back once I get the place. In the meantime, just back either end of January/beginning of February I got served with 2 separate care and protection cases, one for each kid. My daughter lives with my mother in foxboro since October and to my understanding a care and protection case has to be filed where the child is located. When I did go to court for hers I had to go up on the stand and the judge asked me a bunch of questions and this was after my lawyer had told me to sign the paper and it was going to keep everything the same. Which to my understanding at the time was that she stays at my moms and continues to go to foxboro schools, which they had transferred her into back in January from being in Cambridge schools. Something I never wanted but once she was ripped away from me, it was like I wasn’t even her mother anymore and it still feels like this. And her and I had been together since the day she was born which was on my 30th birthday. And this has all been so difficult and confusing, especially after that day in court when all of a sudden DCF received full custody of her. Which wasn’t staying as the same conditions as I was told. My sons care and protection case had got continued and all I kept being told was if I didn’t have him in a daycare and I didn’t have an apartment before our next court date, that he was also going to be in DCF custody. I am and have been on the methadone clinic now for almost 16 years and my drug use for opiates stopped not too much after getting on the clinic and this was before I was even pregnant with my daughter which happened in 2010. My daughter never knew me as a heroin addict, NEVER. I did still drink and like I said at the beginning, it has now been 5 years sober from that. I am also currently prescribed adderall and there has been major issues with this prescribed medicine since living here at 859 Mass Ave.
I did go to court again for my son and this time I was persuaded into signing the document that had conditions instead of having a trial because when the trial was brought up it seemed like if I was gonna have it I wasn’t going to be leaving with my son that day. I can’t stress enough how important it is to him especially that DCF never gets custody of him and that I don’t even want them having any part of custody. They are untrustworthy and I only say that because of the past 2 years and a couple months that they have been involved with me and my family when initially the case should have NEVER even been opened. My case was transferred between departments and I couldn’t even tell you the number of different DCFers my kids and I have had to meet and sit with and be bullied by. The court issue had started from a CRA from my daughter back at the end of the school year in 2023. And then they closed that just this past Jan to then the same day doing the 2 care and protection cases. I just don’t understand how dcf can get away with these things and if they are doing this to me… a single mother, living in bad conditions in a shelter full with other people and their bad habits, when I keep to myself and take care of my children (now just son, since this past oct) and don’t even come close to abusing or neglecting them. They are my life, I had kids cuz I wanted to have them by my side and raise them into good people and here they are seeing how people who are supposed to be there to help and keep families together, do the exact opposite. And I’m not talking so much about my son with that comment, but my 13 year old daughter knows what I do and what I don’t do and how I am as a mother and then sees what can really happen when the wrong people are in control. That doesn’t make me feel good about the way my daughter is being raised at this point in time and i want her back soo bad. I also do NOT want my son in daycare at this point in time. I want to get acclimated into our own home and get some routines going before changing up his whole entire life and giving him more PTSD and anxiety then he has now because of residing only in shelters his whole 3 and a half years of living and all the people and bullcrap (excuse my language) that come with it. I need help because all my head space is always wrapped up in DCF and them coming in and taking my son away from me like they did with my daughter. I never knew DCF could force daycare and then threaten custody if he wasn’t in one. Let me also say that my son is the smartest, brightest, funniest, most caring and super athletic kid you could meet and he wouldn’t be the way he is if I had put him into daycare. He has been with me and only me his whole life and I’m proud of my parenting. Even tho everyone has made it seem otherwise and also has said it to my face. My daughter is also an amazingly smart, intelligent, funny, caring young girl who has been through the ringer and I’m just so upset with this whole situation and my mind needs to be focused on getting us out of the death trap room over here and into a home of our own that we sooo deserve and do not in any way, shape or form deserve to be told it’s going to be taken from us. If my situation was like the others that I have seen come and go in this building that what?? Stayed in shelter for just about a year, then yeah, give me the same time limit, of course. But if u only knew how agonizing and awful these past 7 years have been for me and my family, I think you would agree with me and it’s soo hard to understand anyone that doesn’t agree with that and honestly seems like they have a different agenda for all of it. I’m 43, I grew up in the suburbs in Easton Ma, graduated from Oliver Ames in 1999, worked in restaurants for 16 years of life, the last place being Tavern in the Square North station. I have goals and I’m not stopping until I reach them and beyond and I’m just sick of being pushed down and treated like I’m so degenerate when it’s just soo not like that. Dcf has done a number on me and my kids and I need them outta my life and honestly I want them to payback everything they have ruined taken and to made to untarnish my name and who I am, I am Kristen L Fox and they need to start apologizing. Any help of yours would be soo appreciated and even if we could talk and figure something out, I would owe u my life

April 7, 2024 at 11:41 pm

1 thoughts on “Focus Keyphrase: “MA DCF Case Study: Challenging Child Neglect Allegations””

Kristen Fox says:
I had reached out to the firm a while back about being completely trampled on by dcf, with allegations that are soo far fetched it has now ultimately tarnished my name. There have been allegations about me that are so false and back in October they did end up ripping my daughter away from me and her brother. I 100 percent DO NOT abuse or neglect my children, I never have. I also have been abstinent from alcohol for 5 years now and don’t use drugs. I always was an everyday marijuana smoker basically since I was 16 years old and once they took my daughter from me I have refrained from using it, even tho this is something that had become more medically used than anything. I have wanted to get a medical card but I have had so many issues come my way it just takes a back burner. I currently reside at 859 Massachusetts Avenue which is a family shelter. I have been here since June 28, 2022. My daughter and I started our shelter journey back in 2017 and I just finally got a section 8 voucher this past September. I know have everyone and their mothers threatening to take the voucher away if I don’t meet their deadlines on leasing up with an apartment. It’s crazy because I’m the 1st one who wants this apartment and can not wait to live like I should have been living a long time ago with my 2 kids right by my side. The court says I will get my daughter back once I get the place. In the meantime, just back either end of January/beginning of February I got served with 2 separate care and protection cases, one for each kid. My daughter lives with my mother in foxboro since October and to my understanding a care and protection case has to be filed where the child is located. When I did go to court for hers I had to go up on the stand and the judge asked me a bunch of questions and this was after my lawyer had told me to sign the paper and it was going to keep everything the same. Which to my understanding at the time was that she stays at my moms and continues to go to foxboro schools, which they had transferred her into back in January from being in Cambridge schools. Something I never wanted but once she was ripped away from me, it was like I wasn’t even her mother anymore and it still feels like this. And her and I had been together since the day she was born which was on my 30th birthday. And this has all been so difficult and confusing, especially after that day in court when all of a sudden DCF received full custody of her. Which wasn’t staying as the same conditions as I was told. My sons care and protection case had got continued and all I kept being told was if I didn’t have him in a daycare and I didn’t have an apartment before our next court date, that he was also going to be in DCF custody. I am and have been on the methadone clinic now for almost 16 years and my drug use for opiates stopped not too much after getting on the clinic and this was before I was even pregnant with my daughter which happened in 2010. My daughter never knew me as a heroin addict, NEVER. I did still drink and like I said at the beginning, it has now been 5 years sober from that. I am also currently prescribed adderall and there has been major issues with this prescribed medicine since living here at 859 Mass Ave.
I did go to court again for my son and this time I was persuaded into signing the document that had conditions instead of having a trial because when the trial was brought up it seemed like if I was gonna have it I wasn’t going to be leaving with my son that day. I can’t stress enough how important it is to him especially that DCF never gets custody of him and that I don’t even want them having any part of custody. They are untrustworthy and I only say that because of the past 2 years and a couple months that they have been involved with me and my family when initially the case should have NEVER even been opened. My case was transferred between departments and I couldn’t even tell you the number of different DCFers my kids and I have had to meet and sit with and be bullied by. The court issue had started from a CRA from my daughter back at the end of the school year in 2023. And then they closed that just this past Jan to then the same day doing the 2 care and protection cases. I just don’t understand how dcf can get away with these things and if they are doing this to me… a single mother, living in bad conditions in a shelter full with other people and their bad habits, when I keep to myself and take care of my children (now just son, since this past oct) and don’t even come close to abusing or neglecting them. They are my life, I had kids cuz I wanted to have them by my side and raise them into good people and here they are seeing how people who are supposed to be there to help and keep families together, do the exact opposite. And I’m not talking so much about my son with that comment, but my 13 year old daughter knows what I do and what I don’t do and how I am as a mother and then sees what can really happen when the wrong people are in control. That doesn’t make me feel good about the way my daughter is being raised at this point in time and i want her back soo bad. I also do NOT want my son in daycare at this point in time. I want to get acclimated into our own home and get some routines going before changing up his whole entire life and giving him more PTSD and anxiety then he has now because of residing only in shelters his whole 3 and a half years of living and all the people and bullcrap (excuse my language) that come with it. I need help because all my head space is always wrapped up in DCF and them coming in and taking my son away from me like they did with my daughter. I never knew DCF could force daycare and then threaten custody if he wasn’t in one. Let me also say that my son is the smartest, brightest, funniest, most caring and super athletic kid you could meet and he wouldn’t be the way he is if I had put him into daycare. He has been with me and only me his whole life and I’m proud of my parenting. Even tho everyone has made it seem otherwise and also has said it to my face. My daughter is also an amazingly smart, intelligent, funny, caring young girl who has been through the ringer and I’m just so upset with this whole situation and my mind needs to be focused on getting us out of the death trap room over here and into a home of our own that we sooo deserve and do not in any way, shape or form deserve to be told it’s going to be taken from us. If my situation was like the others that I have seen come and go in this building that what?? Stayed in shelter for just about a year, then yeah, give me the same time limit, of course. But if u only knew how agonizing and awful these past 7 years have been for me and my family, I think you would agree with me and it’s soo hard to understand anyone that doesn’t agree with that and honestly seems like they have a different agenda for all of it. I’m 43, I grew up in the suburbs in Easton Ma, graduated from Oliver Ames in 1999, worked in restaurants for 16 years of life, the last place being Tavern in the Square North station. I have goals and I’m not stopping until I reach them and beyond and I’m just sick of being pushed down and treated like I’m so degenerate when it’s just soo not like that. Dcf has done a number on me and my kids and I need them outta my life and honestly I want them to payback everything they have ruined taken and to made to untarnish my name and who I am, I am Kristen L Fox and they need to start apologizing. Any help of yours would be soo appreciated and even if we could talk and figure something out, I would owe u my life

April 7, 2024 at 11:41 pm

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