The Indiana Court of Appeals admitted it made an erroneous statement in reversing a termination of parental rights order and granted the Department of Child Services’ request for a rehearing. But the appellate panel Wednesday affirmed its initial opinion, concluding the error had no bearing its original ruling that a mother’s due process rights were violated.
A mother whose kids were found to be children in need of services despite her successful efforts to stay sober and get the help she needed found favor with an appellate panel Monday, who reversed the CHINS adjudication on the basis of insufficient evidence.
While the effort to give foster parents standing in cases involving abused and neglected children has stalled in the Statehouse, numerous child welfare and Department of Child Services reforms appear poised to pass the Indiana General Assembly.
Concerns surrounding the way Indiana adjudicates and rehabilitates its juvenile offenders has resulted in the proposal of a summer interim committee to address how adequately the juvenile justice system is governed.
A young girl found to be a child in need of services following the negligent death of her younger brother will remain a CHINS despite her mother’s contention that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove the finding, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled.
A Marion County father has lost his appeal of the termination of his parental rights after the Indiana Court of Appeals determined the termination was not clearly erroneous.
A nonprofit that gave Indiana an F grade in how the state provides for minors in child in need of services and termination of parental rights hearings asserts in a new lawsuit that children a have right to counsel so their voices be heard in court.
Even though the Indiana Court of Appeals had previously affirmed that the youngsters in this case were children in need of services, in part because of allegations of a father’s sexual abuse, it has reversed the termination of parental rights because the requirement that the father participate in a sex offender treatment program violated his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
A national child advocacy organization filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Indianapolis asserting that Indiana is violating the rights of abused and neglected children by failing to provide them legal counsel in children in need of services and termination of parental rights hearings.
A mother won her appeal to reverse an erroneous order terminating her parental rights when the Indiana Court of Appeals found the Department of Child Services committed ‘significant procedural irregularities’ in her case.
As Indiana’s executive and legislative branches work to implement reforms in the Department of Child Services and boost funding, the judicial branch is also reviewing the department in a case that could decide whether child welfare cases are subject to res judicata.
Three Tippecanoe County minor children age 5 and younger who were cared for by their father after they were found home alone in their mother’s home should not have been adjudicated children in need of services, the Indiana Court of Appeals held Friday in reversing the juvenile court.
Indiana Supreme Court justices will hear oral argument in two cases this week, including a dispute over “piecemeal” litigation in a children in need of services case and an auto assembly supply dispute coming before the court on petition to transfer.
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the adjudication of a baby found to be a child in need of services after finding that the Department of Child Services failed to prove the parents’ mental health issues seriously endangered the baby.
Legislators in 2018 introduced a slew of bills trying to bring more collaboration and modest adjustments to the Department of Child Services. Lawmakers this year have introduced at least 25 bills impacting CHINS, foster parents and DCS caseloads, among other things.
Indiana Supreme Court Justices granted transfer in two cases last week concerning a father convicted of killing his infant daughter with a pillow and a piecemeal child in need of services adjudication.
Indianapolis attorneys Joe Delamater, a criminal defense lawyer at Razumich & Delamater PC, and Kiamesha Colom, a partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, encountered confusion, frustration and ultimately heartbreak during the course of a few months when they became foster parents to a baby boy. Now they are pushing for changes to state laws they say will balance the system so the right results happen for kids.
The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court termination of parental rights in a “most unusual circumstance” when it found the separation of two minor daughters from their brothers and mother was in the girls’ best interests.
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed two CHINS petitions when it ruled fact-finding hearings must be completed within 120 days of filing, regardless of any act or agreements of the parties involved.
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a child in need of services determination based on the Department of Child Services’ agreement that reversal was required because there was insufficient evidence to prove a mother’s marijuana use ever harmed her minor child.