Illinois DCFS Cases: Parents’ Visitation Rights After Children Have Been Removed by the Court

Article written by Illinois Attorney Kevin O’Flaherty

In this article, we explain parents’ visitation rights after children have been removed by the court in a juvenile case based on alleged abuse or neglect. For more on the process of removing a child from a parent’s custody based on reports of abuse or neglect made to the DCFS, check out our article, How to Remove a Child from the Parent’s Custody.

The Juvenile Court Act is intended to keep families together if it is possible to do so without creating an undue threat of harm to the child. Therefore, when a parent has had a child temporarily removed from his or her custody due to a recommendation to the States Attorney from the DCFS or a petition filed by a concerned third party, the parent has certain rights to visitation with the child.

The goal of the law is to ultimately reunite the parent and the child after the parent completes a DCFS service plan, which may include therapy, parenting classes or rehab, in order to make the parent’s home environment safe for the child.

For all children in temporary custody in juvenile cases or in cases in which the DCFS service plan’s goal is to return the child to the parent, as opposed to permanently removing the child…