FIRST DISTRICT

COURT OF APPEALS

        

THESE SUMMARIES ARE NEITHER APPROVED IN ADVANCE NOR ENDORSED BY THE COURT.  THEY ARE NOT HEADNOTES OR SYLLABI.  INTERESTED PARTIES SHOULD OBTAIN COPIES OF THE ACTUAL DECISIONS FROM THE CLERK OF THE COURT OF APPEALS.

 

DATE: Friday, January 16, 2025

CAPTION: IN RE: C/W CHILDREN

APPEAL NO.: C-240553 

TRIAL NO.: F/18/53 Z

KEY WORDS: JUVENILE COURT — ADJUDICATION — NEGLECT — DEPENDENCY — REMOVAL — CLEAR AND CONVINCING — MENTAL HEALTH — SUICIDE HOTLINE  

SUMMARY: The juvenile court’s adjudication of Mother’s newborn twins as neglected was not supported by clear and convincing evidence because Mother’s phone call to a suicide hotline after the twins were removed from her custody and her subsequent short-term hospitalization for a psychological evaluation did not establish that Mother abandoned the babies, that they lacked adequate parental care due to her faults or habits, or that Mother refused to provide subsistence, education, or medical treatment to them.

The juvenile court’s adjudication of Mother’s six children as dependent was not supported by clear and convincing evidence where that determination was based on a neglect finding involving Mother’s twins that was also unsupported by clear and convincing evidence. 

JUDGMENT: REVERSED AND CAUSE REMANDED

JUDGES: OPINION by KINSLEY, P.J.; CROUSE and NESTOR, JJ., CONCUR.