Can Police Enforce A Child Custody Order In Illinois?

When adults with children separate, those adults govern their parenting time and parental decision-making with court orders. These court orders tell each parent when they are to pick up their children and what they can do with the children when the parent has custody of the child. When one (or both) parents do not follow custody orders, the other parent has the right to enforce the custody orders. Typically, the court orders will be enforced in a domestic relations court. Outside of court, at pick-up time, the judge is not present. Can the police be called to enforce a child custody order? What Happens When You Call The Police To Enforce A Child Custody Order In Illinois? Either parent can call the police at any time. The police will eventually arrive and talk to each parent. The police will listen to each parent and try to mediate and diffuse the situation. The police will even read the court order (often a multiple page document) and opine and who is supposed to do what. What the police will hardly ever do is enforce the court order. What did you expect? For the police to draw their guns and force one parent to turn the child over to the other parent? If one parent simply takes the child into their home and closes the door, the police are not allowed to go into that house. The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees that “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their . . . houses . . . shall not be violated.” U.S. Const. amend. IV. “At the very core [of the Fourth Amendment] stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion.” Silverman v. United States, 365 U. S. 505 at 511 “In terms that apply equally to seizures of property and to seizures of persons, the Fourth Amendment has drawn a firm line at the entrance to the house. Absent exigent circumstances, that threshold may not reasonably be crossed without a warrant.” Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573 (1980) What is transferring a child to another parent if not a “seizure of a person?” The police are never going into a house to get a child…without a warrant. Getting A Warrant To Get A Child In Illinois Issuing a civil warrant is a rarely […]

from Russell D. Knight | Family Lawyer Chicago https://rdklegal.com/can-police-enforce-a-child-custody-order-in-illinois/