Worried About Seeing Your Kids After a Sex Crime Charge?

Can I see my kids after a sex crime charge Texas? Often the answer depends on the written terms. A bond order, a protective order or a family court order can each limit contact, and a judge sets those terms. This guide explains which papers to read first and how the criminal and family court tracks differ. It is general information, not advice on your case.

What a Bond Condition Can Say About Contact With Children

A bond condition can limit your contact with children, and the judge decides what those terms are. After an arrest in a child-related case, the court can set conditions of release. Those conditions can cover where you may go and who you may contact.

Texas Penal Code § 25.07 makes it a crime to knowingly or intentionally break certain bond conditions in family violence, sexual assault or abuse, indecent assault, stalking, or trafficking cases. Those conditions can include going to or near the residence, workplace or business of a protected person or a member of the family or household, or a child care facility, residence or school where a protected child normally lives or attends, as specifically described in the order or condition of bond. The statute also covers contacting a protected person in a way the bond prohibits, except through your attorney or a person the court appoints.

That means a bond violation can add a new charge on top of the case you already face. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 7B.005 shows how courts describe these limits in protective orders. In a protective order that includes a location condition under art. 7B.005(a)(2)(B), the court must name each prohibited location and any minimum distance you must keep from it. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 7B.005 reads: “This subsection does not apply to a protective order with respect to which the court has received a request to maintain confidentiality of information revealing the locations.” The exact words matter. A line that says “no contact with minors” reads differently from one that names your own children and a particular school.

Where to Find the Terms That Control Your Contact

The terms that control your contact are written on your bond or release papers and on any protective order. Start with those documents before you assume what you can and cannot do. Which terms apply depends on the facts of your case.

Gather every paper from the arrest and the court. That includes the bond or release order, the conditions of release, any magistrate paperwork, and any protective order. If a family court has entered an order, get a copy of that too.

Read each condition line by line. Ask these questions:

• Who is covered? Does it name your children, or “any minor”?
• What is barred? Contact in person, by phone, by text, or through another person?
• Where? Does it name a home, a school or a child care facility?
• How close? Is there a distance you must keep?
• Who supervises? Is a third party or a program required?

Bring these answers to your review. Each order stands on its own wording. Two cases with similar charges can carry very different conditions. General rules you have read online are no substitute for the order in your file.

How Bond Conditions Can Be Changed by Motion

A defense lawyer can ask the court to change bond conditions by filing a motion, and the judge decides whether to change them. A motion usually states the arrangement you want and the reasons behind it. For example, it might propose supervised contact with your own children or a different exchange location.

The court can keep the current terms, change them, or set a hearing. No lawyer can ensure a particular result. The judge weighs the order and the facts before deciding.

Child safety zones follow a different path. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 42A.453 applies to a defendant placed on community supervision for certain listed offenses, and the judge must establish a child safety zone when it grants that supervision and determines a child was the victim. The judge must establish a child safety zone by requiring you, as a condition of community supervision, not to go in, on, or within 1,000 feet of a premises where children commonly gather, such as a school, day-care facility, or playground, unless the judge is not required to impose it because you are a primary or secondary school student. Under art. 42A.453(e), you may ask the court to modify that zone, including because it is broader than needed to protect the public. This path opens after community supervision is granted, not at the bond stage.

Until a change is ordered, follow the current terms exactly. Keep copies of every order, and write down any contact that happens. Those records help your lawyer show the court how you have followed the terms.

Family Court Runs on Its Own Track

A criminal bond order is issued in the criminal case and sets the conditions you must follow while it is in effect. A bond order comes from the criminal case. A custody or possession order comes from a family law case and sets how a parent spends time with a child.

The two can overlap, so check how they fit together rather than assuming one replaces the other. Where a family violence finding has been made, Texas Family Code § 85.022 lets a protective order bar that person from going to or near the residence, child-care facility or school a protected child attends or lives in. Under § 85.022(c), the court must specifically describe each prohibited location and any minimum distance the party must maintain, but this requirement does not apply to an order in which Section 85.007 applies. In a protective order, the same section requires the court to suspend a license to carry a handgun held by a person found to have committed family violence.

Each order in a case has its own terms, so review every order with your lawyer. Keep both sets of papers in one place, and review them together before any visit or exchange.

When Child Protective Services Is Also Involved

CPS works under its own process and its own safety requirements. A safety plan, a home arrangement or an agreed schedule with CPS is separate from your bond conditions.

Each one needs its own review. Following a CPS plan does not mean you are following your bond, and following your bond does not settle a CPS requirement. Don’t sign a CPS plan until you have read it against your bond papers. Ask whether it sets any location, contact or supervision term that could conflict with a court order.

Related guides in this series cover how the CPS investigation works and how the allegation is described in the probable cause affidavit. Read those alongside your own papers, since the charging documents often shape what the court and CPS look at first.

What Changes if There Is a Conviction

After a conviction, contact and firearm rules can change, and they call for a separate analysis from a pending charge. Each stage of a case has its own steps, so ask us to explain what applies at each point.

A child safety zone is one example. If a judge grants community supervision to a defendant placed on supervision for one of the offenses listed in Article 42A.453(b), and the judge determines that a child, meaning a person younger than 17 years of age under Section 22.011(c), was the victim, the judge shall establish a child safety zone by requiring that defendant to attend psychological counseling sessions for sex offenders, along with the other zone conditions under Article 42A.453(c). A judge is not required to impose the zone conditions for a defendant who is a student at a primary or secondary school, under art. 42A.453(d).

Firearms are another area to check. Your lawyer can apply those rules to your file.

Victims also have rights in these cases.

Registration and related rules are covered in the pillar guide for this series. The parent guide on what happens after an accusation in Texas covers the full sequence.

Review Your Bond Conditions With Barbieri Law Firm

If a bond or custody order is keeping you from your children while a charge is pending, the next step is a close reading of the exact wording. You may not be sure which paper controls contact, or whether a motion could change it. Your bond order, any protective order and any family court order each matter.

Call Barbieri Law Firm at (972) 424-1902, or send your case details through our contact page. Our team will read your bond papers with you and explain your options. The first consultation is free, confidential, and carries no obligation to continue.

No lawyer can ensure a particular result. A careful review can, however, show you exactly what the papers require today.

Attorney responsible for this site: Heather Barbieri, Barbieri Law Firm, Frisco, Texas.

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