Practice Area
Child Protection
In child protection matters, LexActa.Cloud reviews the written record behind an agency's petition — for example, a DCYF abuse and neglect petition under NH RSA 169-C, or the equivalent filing in another state. The tool reads the investigation report, case plans, and supporting exhibits, and highlights where the agency's argument does not match what the record actually says.
Review of voluntary services
The tool looks for how voluntary or in-home services were offered or considered, whether the parents' and child's positions were documented, and whether the report shows concrete attempts rather than general claims of non-cooperation.
Proportionality of removal
The record is checked against the least-restrictive-alternative standard: does the proposed removal or placement fit the alleged risk, and were less intrusive options considered and explained on the record?
Statements traced to their source
Statements from parents, the child, school staff, counselors, and other collateral sources are separated from the caseworker's own conclusions, making it clear when a claim is a party's statement and when it is the caseworker's interpretation.
Support for conclusions
The tool shows where conclusions in the report lack sufficient support in the material actually cited, and flags language that is especially useful to challenge in a motion or at a hearing.
The output leaves counsel with a structured overview of weaknesses in the argument and the evidence, ready to build into a motion or use at a Circuit Court – Family Division hearing.
Guides on Child Protection
Proportionality in Child Removal Cases
The proportionality standard in a child protection matter requires the agency to document that it weighed the risk to the child against the intrusiveness of the proposed removal, and that less restrictive alternatives were both tried and explained as insufficient in the specific case.
Read the guide →Evaluating Voluntary Services
Voluntary services are considered insufficient when the record can show, concretely, that services were offered to the extent needed, that the parent or child did not consent to or participate in them, and that the gap cannot be closed with a reasonable alternative measure.
Read the guide →How to Review a Child Protection Investigation
Review a child protection investigation report by first separating the caseworker's conclusions from the underlying statements, then testing whether the conclusions are actually supported by the record, and finally identifying the language that is central to the agency's argument.
Read the guide →Source Checking in a Child Protection Investigation
The reliability of a source in a child protection investigation is evaluated by identifying who the original source of a statement was, how the statement was documented, how close in time the documentation is to the event, and whether the statement is independently corroborated by other information in the record.
Read the guide →
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