In re M.O.
Annotate this CaseM.O. was born on December 14, 2014. Mother was twenty-one years old at the time; father was thirty-four. On December 17, 2014, the Department for Children and Families (DCF) filed a petition alleging that M.O. was child in need of care or supervision (CHINS). It sought emergency custody of the child. In the accompanying affidavit, a DCF social worker asserted that DCF had received a report from hospital staff expressing concern about parents' ability to adequately care for M.O. The court issued an emergency care order on December 17, 2014, and transferred temporary custody to DCF. On appeal of the trial court's finding, the father argued the trial court's findings were too vague to support its conclusion that M.O. was CHINS. He asserted that, at most, the court's findings reflected speculation that there was a potential higher risk of harm to M.O. because M.O.'s parents had unidentified "risk factors." According to father, there was nothing in the court's findings about the prenatal nurse visits or the hospital social worker's testimony that would establish the basis for a CHINS finding. Father maintained that a potential risk of harm to M.O. was not enough. Father also contended that the court failed to make sufficient findings to enable the Vermont Supreme Court to review its decision. The Supreme Court, after review, disagreed and affirmed. "We emphasize that, contrary to father's characterization of the facts, the evidence here suggests something far more serious than garden-variety new-parent jitters. Even after many months of prenatal coaching, mother was not attuned to M.O.'s cues, and could not perform basic parenting tasks such as holding the baby, feeding the baby, and checking and changing the baby's diaper. And the evidence before the court was that simple coaching of mother by professionals in the hospital would not be enough to ensure M.O.'s safety. … The trial court did not base its determination on any presumptions arising from mother's self-described learning disability, or her observed cognitive limitations. It based its determination on her observed parenting ability." The Court considered all of father's other arguments and found them to be without merit.
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