(561) 988-8000 Charges relating to the endangerment of a child could result in harsh penalties. When you face an arrest for child endangerment, the charges against you could have serious consequences for your life, employment, and future.
Seek the assistance of a Ft. Lauderdale child endangerment Lawyer at Leifert & Leifert to protect your rights and ensure you receive the strongest possible defense as your case progresses. While it may surprise you to be in this situation and you believe there is a misunderstanding, you must recognize the severity of the charge and the potential penalties you could face should the court convict you. A criminal defense Attorney is ready to fight for your rights and future.
The Definition of Child Endangerment
The term child endangerment under the law might include various actions or behaviors. The charge of child endangerment centers on the lack of care a child receives. Child care encompasses many aspects, such as housing, nutrition, access to medical care, and supervision.
You could face a child endangerment charge when authorities perceive your care of a child as inadequate or lacking. These offenses carry hefty penalties because of the underlying interest to protect a child, and the charges might be challenging to fight.
A child endangerment Lawyer in Ft. Lauderdale is essential when facing them; there is too much at risk, and a conviction could have ramifications for many areas of your life. Our Leifert & Leifert Lawyers take the appropriate steps to protect you during each stage following an arrest. They work to identify all potential defenses and issues arising from your arrest or its aftermath that may violate your rights.
Who Can Face a Child Endangerment Charge?
Often, people think child endangerment charges are possible only against the parents of a minor. Although many cases involve parents, this is not always true. Caretakers, educators, and others responsible for the care and well-being of children often face arrest for child endangerment.
How Do State Authorities Investigate Child Endangerment Allegations?
If you are accused of neglecting, abusing, or otherwise endangering your child, you will likely be subject to investigation by the Office of the Inspector General within the Florida Department of Children and Families. This may stem from law enforcement authorities passing on information about an arrest for alleged child endangerment, or it may stem from a third-party report without any criminal charges being filed.
Either way, once the DCF receives what it believes to be a credible report of child endangerment, they will assign one of their investigators to contact all involved parties, including the allegedly endangered children, their parents or guardians, siblings of the affected children, and potentially other close family members and friends. The investigator will conduct interviews with all involved parties, show up unannounced for home visits, and potentially speak with other figures in the child’s life, like teachers and pediatricians, to get a full picture of the child’s home life.
If the DCF investigators find no evidence of abuse, neglect, or abandonment, they will close your case without any further action. If they do find evidence of child mistreatment or endangerment, though, they have various options for addressing the issue and protecting the child’s best interests, ranging from connecting the child’s parents to voluntary counseling and parenting resources to putting a safety plan in place or—in extreme scenarios—petitioning the Court for removal of the child from their home.
Potential Defense Strategies Against Child Endangerment Charges
Most child endangerment allegations that rise to the level of criminal behavior result in police filing charges under Florida Statutes § 827.03, which covers the abuse, aggravated abuse, and neglect of children. Under this statute, criminal child abuse requires the defendant to have intentionally inflicted physical or mental injury on a child or to have acted in such a way that their child was in serious danger of sustaining such injury. Criminal neglect, on the other hand, occurs when a child’s caregiver demonstrates willful failure or omission in providing for the child’s basic needs.
What all these forms of child endangerment have in common is that they all require some degree of intent on the part of the parent to engage in behavior harmful to their child. Accordingly, it is sometimes possible to contest charges like this by proving that your treatment of your child was not intended to harm them, or that you were unable to provide for your child’s needs because of material concerns as opposed to willful failure to care for them. A Ft. Lauderdale child endangerment attorney from Leifert & Leifert may alternatively be able to help you fight charges of this nature on procedural grounds—for example, by establishing that police violated your rights when collecting evidence to support their charge against you.
Dealing with False Allegations of Child Endangerment
Unfortunately, it is not unheard of for people to knowingly make false accusations of child endangerment against other people for a variety of reasons, many of which have to do with disputes between the accused parent and the person making the accusation. In a situation like this, it is more important than ever to remain as calm and proactive as possible by contacting legal counsel quickly and refraining from speaking about the allegations in public. We can help you conclusively prove that the accusations against you are false and potentially pursue criminal prosecution against your accuser for filing a false report in the first place.
How a Child Endangerment Arrest Affects the Future
A child endangerment charge could wreak havoc on your life. Apart from the criminal case and its consequences, there are the effects on your relationship with the child to consider. When you are the child’s parent, custody challenges will follow, as the state will probably intervene and reduce your custody rights either while the case is pending or, if a conviction occurs, for much longer.
In addition to the restrictions of contact with the child, there are consequences for your future and ability to work when you receive a conviction. When you are a caretaker, education worker, or anyone working with or around children, such an offense on your record can result in the inability to continue working in your field. Finding a defense Lawyer in Ft. Lauderdale following an arrest for child endangerment is critical: we can navigate the complex legal procedures and protect your rights.
Possible Penalties in a Child Endangerment Case
The state takes these charges seriously, and you risk severe consequences, including imprisonment, dismissal from work, and significant fines. Following a conviction for injuring a child, incarceration may reach 15 years under state law.
Call Our Ft. Lauderdale Attorneys to Defend Your Rights in a Child Endangerment Case
At Leifert & Leifert, our Ft. Lauderdale child endangerment Lawyers know the seriousness of these charges. We can defend your rights and build a case to seek the best resolution for you and your future.
Contact us today for a free case review. Use this initial consultation to discover how we can defend you after a child endangerment arrest.
