Exhusband Facing Felony Charges, Had Children Removed From Home And Dss Took 2 Months Finding Me?

Location : South Carolina, US

Hello. This is a new account because this is the only place I feel like I’ll get an actual answer. I really want to know if I should attempt finding a lawyer/legal aid.

My(F43) ex-husband (M40) took an opportunity during a hard time to gain legal custody of our kids 8 years ago. Think, he’s never helped, and was the reason I lost a house and a car when we were married. When I had a mental health crisis, he had a serious girlfriend (now almost ex wife ????) who was more than happy to help him get custody. They both made a LOT of money, traveled, got them everything they wanted. Of course it was easy to be the better parent on the outside. It’s been a long 7 years. He’s alienated the children and currently, my adult child (F20) is really riding hard for her dad, and I’m the enemy. But our minor child is who this involves mostly. This past stretch, it’s been a few months since I have even heard from them.

Fast forward to Friday. I get a text from DSS looking for me in regards to our 16 year old. I absolutely panicked. Found out, she was removed and placed with her uncle (his brother) because he “didn’t know where I was”. It took DSS TWO MONTHS to find me. Her father is being charged with Arson 2 and Child endangerment/willful abandonment. She was in the house when it happened. She is ok. She had a little smoke inhalation and was treated.

Here’s the thing- their story doesn’t add up on why it took so long, and she even told me they looked in my county and found “something” about me- it’s an open family court case with my ex- literally all my information is there. He lives in the county next to mine, so idk why they didn’t dig further??? They told me that my 16 year old gave them my number last week. Now I have to have a home visit, supervised visit to monitor me and make sure I’m ok. I understand they have a job- but we had joint custody and he’d been denying my visits for over a year. I want them to do their due diligence to make sure she’s safe. HOWEVER- two months is a little too much- right?

Do I need to find an attorney? I feel like this isn’t right, but I know the system can be really messed up and not make sense sometimes, so maybe this is normal?

Thank you if you can help ????

Location: South Carolina