Celia J. Harned

Unfortunately my case was complicated to being with. Dealt with an abusive ex spouse and has plenty of records to prove plus reported child abuse which was investigated and found to be unsure if actually happening although my child did tell multiple people / professionals about the abuse from her bio... dad. No questions in my mind where the Colorado Justice system lives. On top of it all she took the side of the abuser! Kudos to her! Karma is right around the corner!

Celia was the CFI for my grand daughter's case that involved Celia having to conduct telephone interviews with out of state family members. She spent more time disclosing her opinions than she did asking intentional, information gathering questions pertinent to the case. It was clear from my "inte...rview" that she had already determined what her recommendations would be. These recommendations were based on nothing more than her own biased impressions without any supporting professional insight or facts. She is a poor interviewer with little to no communication skills. I am a Clinical Social Worker with experience in the child welfare system. I supported involving a CFI because in theory it is suppose to provide an objective, informed viewpoint of what is in the best interest of the child. Being from out of state, I assumed the CFI would be an attorney with additional education and training since these can be emotionally charged situations with a lot at stake for entire families. I was extremely disappointed and would caution any family to circumvent this process at any cost. Even the experience of dealing with Celia was unpleasant and left me feeling mislead and manipulated.

Celia Harned was assigned on my family court case. If I can provide any advice, please attempt to work things out with an ex without the court's intervention. Whenever the legal system has to step in to decide what's best for your child, it is an unfit circumstance. It is essentially impossible. W...ith that said, if you do have to involve the courts, then you and your ex definitely need to agree on a Child Family Investigator (CFI) from a list you can request from the court or do an online search. DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT be defaulted or let the Courts assign you this person, Celia Harned! I have worked with many attorneys on various issues and have never met one as incompetent as this "attorney". There was no thorough investigation but rather a very lazy attempt done with haste. Even when details were provided in writing from other entities to Celia Harned, she could not articulate or summarize them in the report for the court?!? Her final report was as if a grade school child had written it. I will also add the courts was not unfavorable in its decision based on the facts toward me, however, it did require going beyond Celia Harned's brief. Celia Harned's reporting was subjective on my behalf and being the honest person I am, I even spoke up in Court on my ex's behalf as her reports made him out to be the "bad" parent. This is an integrity issue and I could never again work with such a dishonest and unscrupulous and "attorney". She is the dregs of legal representation! I did some research on Celia Harned as an attorney. Celia Harned is a Court appointed attorney who receives all her clients from the Court. This means she gets ALL of her assignments from the Family Courts and do not have any private practice clients. She regularly works with lower income or uneducated clients and hence she biases reporting against who she subjectively chooses. There is no legal recourse because either party aren't financially able to do so. Lastly, the maximum a CFI, by recent law, can make for family investigations is $2000 ($1000 from each party). At the time Celia Harned was assigned to my family court case, she was demanding additional monies from me until I found this fees cap online. Again, this "attorney" practices are unscrupulous and legally liable with anyone who is willing to pursue. I took the time to write this because I want to help those who are in a family struggle so that both parties can hopefully work things out. If you leave your children in the hands of the Courts or much, much worse in the hands of Celia Harned, you will possibly regret it.

Ceila Harned is the most incompetent, biased, untrustworthy and unprofessional "lawyer" I have ever had the unfortunate displeasure to meet. Ms. Harned was assigned to my case as a CFI to help to reach an accord with my extremely difficult ex. She promised that she would be fair and professional, ho...wever after my experience with her its apparent that she has no idea what those words mean. From the beginning she showed favoritism towards my exes version of events. While she showed him sympathy I was met with aggressive disdain and disapproval. When I was honest with my concerns about that she rudely told me that she couldn't be "bamboozled". After that she was openly hostile during our interactions. She told me to leave the room while speaking to my young children, however I could hear her talking to them. She completely discounted their concerns about whate was occurring with their father, practically calling them liars and then leading them to answer her questions in a more favorable way towards my ex. Afterwards she flat out accused me of telling my children what to say, which I did NOT do. She put that in her report anyway. She constantly refused to answer my phone calls or return emails, but when she did her responses were short and scathing. Meanwhile my ex bragged that he had her "eating out of the palm of his hand". As a "unbiased" lawyer, she showed up to court and hugged my ex and laughed and joked with him. When we remarked how unprofessional that was she tattled to the judge that my side was harassing her. Ceila's report appeared to have been written by a middle school student. There were misspellings, run on sentences and even smiley faces included! She couldn't even get the names of my children correct in her report. It was ridiculous. This woman is a danger to your children. If she is assigned to your case immediately request another person. RUN! She has zero interest in the truth and most importantly she has no interest in your children. She is one of the worst, most dishonest people I have ever met in my life.