Meeting with Family Relations After a Darien Disorderly Conduct Arrest

On a person’s first court date for any domestic violence charge or a disorderly conduct arrest, they have to meet with the Office of Family Relations. Meeting with family relations after a Darien disorderly conduct arrest can be difficult to navigate without the help and support of an adept domestic violence attorney.

What Should I Expect from Meeting with Family Relations?

Any type of Darien arrest is brought to the Stamford Superior Court. The Office of Family Relations is on the third floor. A defendant goes into the office of family relations, signs up with their attorney, and waits for their name to be called to go in for an interview with a Family Relations officer assigned to cover their case.

Speaking to an attorney about expectations for meeting with family relations after a Darien disorderly conduct arrest can be critical. This interview is important because Family Relations does not take every case that is referred to the office. They may refuse to take cases that are not considered serious. The court will be able to work out some sort of disposition that does not involve the Office of Family Relations, which means that the case will end sooner and there will probably be fewer conditions on the person arrested.

Outlining the Family Relations Interview Process

When a person is meeting with family relations after a Darien disorderly conduct arrest, the officer can conduct a series of questions with the defendant. They can read the police report to get all the facts from the case and then they will ask the defendant their perspective on the alleged incident. This series of questions is to figure out if this is a dangerous situation if the defendant is a dangerous individual, and if there are going to be dangers to the victim if the defendant is allowed back to the home.

Family Relations can make a recommendation to the court of what level of a protective order should be entered by the judge. After a defendant meets with the Office of Family Relations, they will go to the courtroom with the Family Relations officer. When the case is called, the Family Relations officer will likely stand up and make the recommendation out loud in the courtroom for the judge.

This recommendation is based on all the questions that were asked in the interview. One of the three levels of protective orders can be entered into and the judge considers the Family Relations officer’s recommendation when making that decision. The judge could also consider a recommendation made by the state’s attorney, the bail commissioner, and the defendant’s attorney.

Potential Temporary Conditions of Release

A temporary condition of release can be placed on someone when someone is arrested and released from jail between the time when they are released and their arraignment at court. There are some conditions on their release that the police could impose to protect the victim in the case.

The first one that is always put into place is a protective order, because there is always an alleged victim and the police need to make sure that they are protected before this person gets to court. There can be an order put in place by a judge. Most likely the most restrictive protective order will be put into place to stop the person from returning to their home if they share their home with a protected party.

When May an Ad litem Be Appointed in a Darien Domestic Violence Case

A guardian ad litem can be appointed at the request of the alleged victim or the defendant whenever a child is involved in the case. That is typically when the child is considered the victim of the case. The guardian ad litem represents the interests of the child involved in the case. Their goal is to do things that are in the best interests of the child, which is the standard that they are supposed to follow.

They make recommendations to the judge for the protective order. If the protective order is a full no-contact protective order, but the guardian ad litem feels that having no contact with the child would be detrimental to the family relationship, they can make that recommendation to the judge. The judge typically honors a guardian ad litem’s recommendation.

What Are The Risks Associated with Making Admissions to a Domestic Relations Officer?

Meeting with family relations after a Darien disorderly conduct arrest is important because, without proper preparation, someone could put their case outcome in jeopardy. Typically, someone goes into a Family Relations meeting on the day of their arraignment before they had a chance to hire an attorney. When this happens, the person could make admissions to Family Relations that can be very detrimental to their case. It becomes the attorney’s job, once hired, to try to counteract those admissions.

If there is physical violence in the past or any sort of violence, it is detrimental to the defendant’s case because the judge is not going to want to give them a second chance or give them a break in the case if they think that this is something that is likely to happen again.