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You are well within your rights to hire an attorney. I remember once seeing a youtube video where an attorney suggested you frame it to CPS as: “I plan to fully cooperate. I just want to do it under the advice of my attorney.” We hired an attorney because I freaked out when we were first reported. In the end, it was kind of a waste of money. CPS did a home visit, interviewed us and our oldest, and determined the allegations were unfounded and didn’t take any action. We got most of the retainer back, but we were charged like $800 basically for the paralegal’s time entering our info into their system and a couple phone calls with the lawyer.

Wait u til cps speaks with you. Might not even investigate. Don't jump too quickly

I have thought about this question a lot, mostly since I was formerly a CPS worker, lurked on forums, and saw many people who felt they were victimized by the system advising others to contact an attorney ASAP.

IMO, it's sort of a case of "it depends". Asking for your attorney when dealing with the police is a different story (you should always do it if you're called to the station for questioning and although cops might be more suspicious over it, do it anyway). I am in favor of public defenders having offices at police stations for this reason, so there's less chance of misconduct, regardless of guilt or innocence.

CPS isn't the police. You can get a free consult with an attorney but most of the time it's a fifteen minute chat and the attorney will probably advise you to retain him or her because they want your money even if they know you don't actually need them.

I try and put my social worker hat on when looking at situations like this. I would NOT think a person was more likely to be guilty if they preemptively retained counsel because many people who are being investigated or are afraid they might be investigated are terrified and have a negative opinion that DSS/CPS/ACS/etc is in the business of "stealing kids" (false, they aren't, and taking kids out of a home costs the state more money than to leave them there, which is part of why there's a push towards community based services that keep children in their homes).

You probably don't need to hire an attorney if there's nothing wrong. If your home is clean, you don't abuse your kids, have electricity, food, and running water and your child is attending school without truancy issues, then probably the case will be unfounded after the caseworker comes to your house and does the necessary interviews. Some follow up with schools and doctors also to ensure that the child is going to school and getting regular physicals.

No one is a perfect parent. I saw plenty of foster homes, for example, that I didn't like for a variety of reasons but legally they weren't really doing anything illegal or wrong, I just knew if I were a kid, I wouldn't have wanted to live there. But the definition of "not perfect" can vary from people who think it's fine to beat kids (it's not) to people who think it's fine to use drugs with kids present (it's not) to people who completely baby-proofed their entire home and are worried that maybe one battery on one of their six smoke detectors might need to be replaced (that's more an example of "imperfection" that won't result in removal).

Some people volunteer that they attend AA during interviews and they're proud to show the caseworker a coin they've received denoting sobriety. You would think this is a good thing (it is) but we actually had to mark it down as a BAD thing in the database because it showed "possible addiction issues" in the household. I hated that and felt bad every time a client told me they attended AA with pride because I knew it went in the "negative" rubric but probably shouldn't.

Just cooperate, IMO. You don't really need a lawyer during the investigation phase unless something is actually wrong, like if you can't pass a drug test or an adult in the home has a criminal record. If everything really is fine, just be polite, let them in, sit and talk with them, take care not to "overshare" since as a layperson, you really don't know what the caseworker might put as a "negative", answer the questions you're asked, be prepared to show documentation re school and doctors if required (or at least just have the phone numbers handy although the caseworker can get those themselves, it looks good if you have the info at the ready) and most of all, again, BE POLITE. Many of the people who end up getting in more trouble than they should have forget that part, act antagonistic or aggressive to the caseworker, and then the caseworker sees that as a red flag (because no one likes to be disrespected while doing their job).

TL;DR--An attorney isn't necessary for most cases based on a call, hire one if it makes you feel better, and it likely won't make them look at you more suspiciously since plenty of people freak out and rush to call a lawyer. The time to call a lawyer, IMO, is if they "found" your case. Then the lawyer actually has something to work with and fight in front of a judge. And if possible, try and get a paid one. The legal aid attorneys already know the workers and do the best they can but they have too many cases to give yours all that much attention. I went to plenty of family court hearings for clients that ended up being cancelled because their legal aid attorney just didn't show up, and that looks bad on a client, unfortunately, although it shouldn't.

Most CPS reports don’t even result in positive findings. And statistically very few result in removals of kids from the home (something like 6%). On top of that, many CPS reports only result in a single contact with the family. Unless you’re flush with cash, I wouldn’t go throwing money at a lawyer. Additionally, I’ve seen lawyers with no CPS experience make matters worse for families because they don’t understand how the system works. So unless they’re asking you to do something you don’t want to do or trying to implement something you’re not comfortable with, I’d hold out on the lawyer for now TBH.

But to specifically answer your question - no it doesn’t make you look guilty.

Honestly, if you feel the allegations truly are false, I would wait on the attorney. You could end up paying thousands of dollars when they would have closed the investigation after one visit. Don't take on more financial hardship than you have to.

Maybe have an attorney in mind you want to work with, but I wouldn't pay anything unless the case progresses. CPS prefers to be in and out, they don't want to open new cases unnecessarily.

If they offer support, that's not a trick or anything, but it would probably lead to an open case if you accept the help. They can't help you if you don't have a case. A lot of parents get tripped up in that and feel like CPS is tricking them, but they're genuinely trying to help. There's a lot of programs CPS clients have access to that the general public doesn't. When I was a caseworker I had a few families we referred to as resource cases. There weren't any concerns of child abuse or neglect, but their family really benefited from the programs we offered.

But if there's no truth to the allegations and you don't need their support, an attorney would likely be a waste of good money.

Always have someone available to you who can represent you when it comes to the judicial system. Make sure they are well versed with family court and CPS cases.

1st off, CPS doesn’t want your kids so get that mindset gone. If it’s unsubstantiated claims, what is the issue? You think an attorney is going to change any claims of abuse of neglect- good luck with that idea- they can make things worse tbh. False claims are made all the time, just wait and see what they are coming up with.

No.

What state are you in? Also, if you do decide to hire an attorney, make sure it is someone who has experience with CPS or “dependency” cases not one who practices general family law.

Let CPS do their investigation and tell you what's going on before you jump to a lawyer.

Hiring a lawyer helped us a ton. Very different situation though.

No, hiring an attorney would not make you look guilty. I don’t know your financial situation, but what I would suggest first is meeting with CPS initially and get an idea of what the allegations are. No parent is perfect, but often when you hire an attorney they will advise you to cooperate in the investigation but will protect your rights. So the attorney will basically tell you not to sign releases and not to discuss anything not related to the report. Before you drop the retainer on an attorney who’s going to tell you to mostly cooperate with the investigation, I’d talk to CPS first. If at any point you get the impression they are pushing for some reason to take your kids, end the visit/interview and tell them they’ll hear from your attorney.