If You Need Evidence, a DHS Worker Is Your Best Bet
Video Transcribed: How can you get a DHS worker to come to court as a witness? My name is Brian L. Jackson. I’m a Tulsa fathers rights attorney here with Dads.Law, where fathers are not disposable.
I want to talk really quickly about how to get DHS records, and how to get DHS workers to show up to court. As a starting point, DHS is not responsive to a standard subpoena in the same way that somebody else might be. You actually have to get a court order for them to produce their records or for their social workers to show up and testify in court. So what you would do is file a specialized motion with the court requesting the court to sign an order to produce records or for the court to issue an order for a social worker to show up and testify. And then it’s served on DHS’s general counsel.
They’re usually given… For records, it’s usually 60 days to respond. For testimony, you want to give at least enough notice that they can actually be available. And then they would show up, they would produce the records or show up to court on your behalf. Now one thing to understand about DHS records is they would be produced to the court, not to you. And the court holds the records and they are under seal. And your attorney can go recover those records to review them and see what’s in them. But the records have to be handled carefully because they are highly confidential. Where this is usually something you would deal with is if there are allegations of child abuse, either false allegations or true allegations that you might want those records, you might want that DHS worker to provide evidence.
If you have questions about any of that or you just need help with a situation you’re facing as a father from an Oklahoma family lawyer, one place you can get help is Dads.Law, where fathers are not disposable.