The paparazzi aren't the only ones angling for a better look at Britney and her babies.
Last month, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services filed a motion to access some of the sealed family court records pertaining to Spears' and Kevin Federline's ongoing custody battle, according to 300 pages of Britney-related documents made public Tuesday.
While the government agency was aware of the many stipulations handed down by the court, the high-profile nature of the case and the associated hullabaloo that occurs every time Spears and K-Fed, or their lawyers, are called to court, the DCFS stated in papers filed Oct. 25 that it was at a "severe disadvantage" in its investigation of Spears' mothering habits. (View the filing.)
"It should be noted that DCFS has concerns of its own regarding the safety and welfare of the children if the children are left in the mother's care," the motion states.
The DCFS first approached the pop princess' household early last year after the infamous picture of Spears holding Sean Preston on her lap while driving made the rounds, and then again after the then-seven-month-old was diagnosed with a skull fracture after falling out of his highchair while under a nanny's care.
Meanwhile, the agency's aforementioned concern was voiced before Spears' latest red-light run—the one that finally cost her her baby-on-board driving privileges—and five days before Court Commissioner Scott M. Gordon denied an attempt on Spears' part to regain joint custody of her boys.
Attorneys for the DCFS, which promises to keep the confidential docs under wraps, argued their case during a hearing Nov. 26 that was subsequently closed to the public.
Spears and Federline have been fighting off the media's attempts to delve deeper into the case for much of the past year. Gordon unsealed certain documents in September, ruling that airing some of the duo's dirty laundry—minus personal details; appointment times, dates and places; medical records; etc.—might be in the kids' best interest.
But Spears has claimed the media finds a way to get all up in her business, regardless of the so-called discretion exercised by the court.
In a declaration taken Oct. 9 and filed the following day, the "Toxic" songstress stated that she tries to keep two-year-old Sean Preston and one-year-old Jayden James' whereabouts and transportation schedule as secret as possible "in order to minimize chances that unscrupulous journalists will gain unwelcome access to me and the boys."
"Such information greatly increase the chances that the actions of the media could threaten the safety of the children by, for example, causing a traffic accident or by exposing them to criminals who might target them for financial gain."
Also released Tuesday were a couple of invoices from the firm of Kaplan & Simon, which reps K-Fed. The aspiring rapper turned one of Details magazine's 50 Most Influential Men Under 45 (he's tied for seventh with Larry Birkhead) racked up $66,593.25 in expenses on Sept. 7, and another $22,337.50 on Sept. 11.
Spears was ordered to cut him a check for $120,000 to put toward legal expenses on Nov. 6.