Emergency Custody: Protecting Children from Immediate Danger
Do you believe that your child or a child you know is in danger and needs to be placed in emergency custody? My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m a family attorney in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I would like to explain the process of obtaining emergency custody for a child. The standard for obtaining emergency custody is that you need to be able to show that the child is going to suffer immediate and irreparable harm if they are not immediately removed from the situation that they are in.
When I say show, that means that you need to either have a police report or affidavit from law enforcement, a report or affidavit from DHS, or an affidavit from someone who has personal knowledge of what the children are suffering through that makes it necessary to get emergency custody. It can’t be an affidavit from someone who heard it from someone who saw it three weeks ago. Just as a hypothetical, if Bob saw his buddy Bill smacking his kids across the face multiple times in quick succession, he would be someone who would give you an affidavit about that so that you could go get that emergency custody order to get those kids out of that situation.
Immediate Relief and Court Process
This is different from filing a DHS referral, although especially in the example that I just gave, also you should call and make a referral to Child Welfare if you see any children being abused or neglected. Short of that though, to get immediate relief, it is doable and worth it to file for an emergency application in those situations. The court will usually hear a rule on it the same day, if not the next day. I think the longest I’ve seen a court sit on an emergency application was when they waited 72 hours before issuing a ruling to grant the order for emergency custody.
From there, the court will have a hearing within two weeks where the other side is allowed to show up and present their evidence for why they don’t believe that they were mistreating their children. But as far as just getting the process started, this is the quickest and easiest way to go about it. If you feel that you need to get an emergency custody order or if you know someone that you think does, please feel free to contact our office or send them our way. We’re Wirth Law Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You can find us at makelaweasy.com.
Contact Us for a Low-Cost Initial Strategy Session
If you are in need of emergency custody for a child, do not hesitate to reach out to us at Wirth Law Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We offer low-cost initial strategy sessions to discuss your situation and determine the best course of action. Contact a Tulsa child custody attorney today at 918-879-1681 to schedule your consultation.
