In re Child of Nicholas P.
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In this child protection proceeding the Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the decisions of the district court entering a jeopardy order against Father and a later order adjudicating that he was the child's father, holding none of Father's challenges to the court's orders was persuasive.
At the jeopardy hearing, the court found that Father was the child's biological father, that the child was in circumstances of jeopardy to his health or welfare, and that Father's abuse of the other child constituted an aggravating factor, entering a cease reunification order on that basis. Later, based on genetic test results revealing that Father was the child's biological parent, the court issued an order adjudicating that Father was the biological parent of the child. Father appealed both orders. As to the first order, Father argued that the court was required to adjudicate that he was a parent of the child before it could consider whether he presented circumstances of jeopardy to the child. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding (1) the court correctly determined that Father was judicially estopped from challenging his parentage of the child; and (2) the court did not err by adjudicating Father's parentage without holding a hearing.
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