English
EspañolDoes my RO protect my children or do they need their own?
Generally, a protection order will be specific about who the “protected parties” are. Sometimes an order may protect only the petitioner (the person who filed the order) but in other situations, it may also include protections for his/her household members, including children (such as when terms of the order say “Do not contact the petitioner or his/her family and household members”). In cases where there are children, a petitioner may specify on the petition that s/he is filing for protection for himself/herself as well as for his/her children - and it will be up to the judge to decide if the children also need protection. Other times, a parent may file a separate petition on behalf of each child. To figure out what is commonly done in your county’s court, you may be able to ask the clerk for the best way to file to protect your children - in your petition or in separate petitions. If the clerk can’t or won’t tell you, a lawyer can hopefully advise you. Here is a link for courthouse contact information if you want to call the clerk and also for lawyers, some of which may be free if you qualify: STATE
If a person already has an order (as opposed to being at the stage of applying for one), s/he may want to show the order to a lawyer for advice to see if it protects his/her children if s/he cannot tell from the wording of the order. If it does not protect your children, you may want to ask advice to a lawyer as to whether or not you can file to modify (change) your order to ask for your children to be included or whether or not you need to file separate petitions for them.
Here is information about restraining orders in STATE in case that is useful: LINK
