When a family is reunified and DFPS is dismissed as the child’s conservator, the child is returned to one or both parents and DFPS is no longer the conservator of the child in the case. There may be a monitored return before the reunification, as described in 5551.1 Monitored Return of a Child to a Parent. However, once reunification is achieved, DFPS is dismissed as the conservator of the child.

At the point of dismissal, the need for legal orders depends on the parents’ circumstances.

If the parents live together, there may be no need for a court order. When the DFPS suit is dismissed, the parents have the same rights with respect to their children that they had before DFPS was involved.

If the parents do not live together, the necessary legal orders depend on what, if any, issues remain regarding the child’s safety.

If one parent is named as the child’s managing conservator, the other parent may be made the child’s possessory conservator.

In some cases, the child’s parents may be named as joint managing conservators with one parent having the right to designate the child’s primary residence. However, if an absent parent poses a safety threat, DFPS does not assume that because the parent is temporarily absent, the parent will not reappear in the child’s life.

If there are safety concerns regarding a parent who may reappear in the child’s life and place the child at risk of abuse or neglect, the caseworker must solidify the legal relationships before DFPS is dismissed as conservator, including the rare circumstance of terminating the parental rights of one parent and making efforts toward reunification with the other.

In any event, the caseworker must be prepared to make recommendations on issues of each parent’s legal relationship to the child, to eliminate as much uncertainty as possible once DFPS is dismissed as conservator.

The caseworker must be prepared to make recommendations on various issues including:

  •   visitation;

  •   child support; and

  •   the schedule for shared custody.