Jennifer L. v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court
Annotate this CaseThe State filed an abuse and neglect petition naming R.L. as a minor in need of protection and asking the court to declare R.L. a ward of the court. R.L. was under a Nev. Rev. Stat. 159 guardianship at the time the petition was filed. The petition alleged that the mental health issues of Petitioner, R.L.’s mother, adversely affected her ability to care for R.L. Petitioner moved to dismiss the petition, asserting that she could not be responsible for neglect because she had neither legal nor physical custody of R.L. The hearing master sustained the allegations in the petition, finding that Petitioner’s anxiety and depression affected her ability to provide care for R.L. and that it was in R.L.’s best interest to be adjudicated a child in need of protection. The juvenile division of the district court adopted the hearing master’s recommendation. Petitioner filed this action in mandamus seeking a writ compelling the juvenile division to dismiss the petition entered against her. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that even when a guardianship is in place, the child’s parents have a statutory duty to continue to care for the child, and parental responsibility for neglect may coincide with the guardianship.
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