The Indiana Court of Appeals reiterated harsh words at the Department of Child Services and Indiana trial courts after reversing another case involving a failure to afford due process protections to families in termination of parental rights cases.
Two Marion County children will no longer be considered children in need of services after the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed their CHINS adjudication, finding insufficient evidence to support the finding that their North Carolina-based father could not care for them.
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that court-appointed special advocates have the statutory authority to prosecute a petition to terminate parental rights, even when the Department of Child Services opposes the termination.
It’s not uncommon for the Indiana Department of Child Services to hear it doesn’t have enough evidence to support its child welfare cases. Children in need of services cases that enter the court often leave shredded by judges for lack of a sufficient reasoning as to why they came before the bench without enough evidence to back up the claims.
If the Department of Child Services has enough concern to file a child in need of services petition, it should have enough evidence to win the case the first time around, the Court of Appeals warned Friday.
The $25 million Gov. Eric Holcomb recently pledged in additional funding for the Department of Child Services is not the first infusion of extra money given to the agency in recent years. In fact, the sum is one of the smaller supplements to the department’s annual state appropriation, which is more than $600 million.
A review of Indiana’s troubled child welfare agency confirms what advocates have long said: Parental drug abuse has led to a surge in children removed from their homes.
Pledging this is the start of a new day for the Indiana Department of Child Services, Gov. Eric Holcomb on Monday outlined changes his administration is implementing to improve the troubled state agency and announced that he is dipping into the state surplus to provide another $25 million to boost salaries and transform the workplace culture.
The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed on interlocutory appeal a change the permanency plan for two children from reunification to termination of parental rights while also cautioning that such trial court rulings are “generally not suitable for interlocutory review.”
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s adjudication of children in need of services, finding the mother’s struggle for stable housing and her positive drug tests did not meet the Indiana Supreme Court’s standard that the children were seriously endangered. The mother told case workers she was an attorney.
Public defenders around Indiana say they need a life preserver made of money to stay afloat in the flood of child in need of services cases that has deluged state courts in recent years.
A bill that would have given immunity to guardians ad litem and court appointed child advocates stalled in the Indiana House, but other measures covering foster parents and placing new requirements on the Indiana Department of Child Services all passed through the Statehouse with little or no opposition.
A slew of bills aimed at helping youngsters designated as children in need of services and another targeting overdue child support payments cleared legislative committees Wednesday with no opposing votes.
Lawmakers have offered more than a dozen bills to address a growing children in need of services crisis, many of which have won broad support in the General Assembly.
A consultant hired by the state said Thursday Indiana has more than double the number of children in out-of-home care compared to the national average. The finding was among the highlights of an initial report commissioned by Gov. Eric Holcomb after the resignation of former Department of Child Services director Mary Beth Bonaventura.
Testimony from a physician which supported the state’s effort to adjudicate six minor siblings as children in need of services was allowed under the hearsay exception, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled.
Former Indiana Department of Child Services Director Mary Beth Bonaventura will join the Indiana Attorney General’s Office as special counsel Monday, a move that comes less than a month after she resigned from her DCS post with a scathing resignation letter to Gov. Eric Holcomb.
A bill pending before an Indiana Senate committee would place additional requirements on the Department of Child Services before removing a child from long-term foster care, though DCS representatives object to the bill on the basis of court caseloads and child safety.
The departure of Mary Beth Bonaventura as director of the Indiana Department of Child Services surprised several family law attorneys and social service providers. Uniformly, they agreed the former Lake County juvenile judge was a strong advocate for children and brought valuable experience to her tenure. Still, the department has struggled against internal and external challenges.
The Allen Superior Court must revisit a parental rights termination proceeding after the Indiana Court of Appeals determined insufficient evidence and prior appellate precedent failed to support the court’s termination of a father’s parental relationship with his son.