In re: Order of Protection – Respondent L.A.

Our client came to our office desperate to have her children returned to her. On a visitation with their natural father, the children of our client told their father that the boyfriend of our client was using corporal punishment for discipline. The natural father sought an order of protection forbidding our client from having any contact with the children she raised from birth. An emergency/temporary Order of Protection was allowed pending a full evidentiary hearing and the children were allowed to remain with the natural father until the hearing date. At the hearing, Mr. LaScola cross-examined the natural father on points including his extensive criminal history (including convictions for domestic battery and cook county jail sentences), a prior DCFS report where he was indicated as the subject of the investigation, the current DCFS decision finding that the allegations against our client were unfounded, and the fact that only our client’s boyfriend was alleged to have used corporal punishment on the children (and that our client was never alleged to have done so). After hearing all the evidence, the Judge was unable to find that the natural father met his burden of proof demonstrating that an Order of Proection should be sustained against our client. Mr. LaScola successfully defended our client from this Order of Protection and the Court ordered that the children be immediately returned to her care and custody.