State of Utah, in the interest of A.L. and A.C.

----ooOoo----

State of Utah, in the interest of A.L. and A.C.,
persons under eighteen years of age.
______________________________

S.C.,
Appellant,

v.

State of Utah,
Appellee.

MEMORANDUM DECISION
(Not For Official Publication)

Case No. 20010300-CA

F I L E D
April 4, 2002 2002 UT App 96 -----

Fourth District Juvenile, Nephi Department
The Honorable Jeril B. Wilson

Attorneys:
Bryan Sidwell, Delta, for Appellant
Mark L. Shurtleff and John Peterson, Salt Lake City, for Appellee
Martha Pierce, Salt Lake City, Guardian Ad Litem

-----

Before Judges Jackson, Orme, and Thorne.

JACKSON, Presiding Judge:

S.C. (Mother) appeals the juvenile court's denial of her motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure for "failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted." Mother claims that three elements must be pleaded in a petition alleging a child is neglected, and argues that the State failed to plead the "injury" and "nexus" elements in its petition. She asserts that the State's omission requires reversal of the juvenile court's refusal to dismiss the case. We affirm.

We review the juvenile court's decision for correctness, and accept as true all factual allegations and all reasonable inferences from those allegations "in a light most favorable to the plaintiff." Snow Flower Homeowners Assn. v. Snow Flower Ltd., 2001 UT App 207,¶7, 31 P.3d 576 (internal quotations and citations omitted).

Utah Code Ann. § 78-3a-305 (Supp. 1999), requires that petitions alleging a minor is neglected contain "a concise statement of facts, separately stated, to support the conclusion that the minor upon whose behalf the petition is being brought is abused, neglected, or dependent." Id. § 78-3a-305(4)(c). Initially, we observe that section 78-3a-305 does not require that the petition allege "injury" or "nexus," as Mother contends.

Next, the State's petition alleges specific facts sufficient to show the minors were neglected, and reasonable inferences from those facts further support "the conclusion that the minor[s] . . . [were] neglected." Id. The petition alleges the following: (1) A.L. is a four-year-old girl, and A.C. is a ten-month-old baby boy, and they "are within the provisions of Utah Code Ann. § 78-3a-104(1)(c) [(Supp. 1999)] as abused, neglected and or dependent children"; (2) A.L. is a minor living with Mother and Mother's husband (Father), and they fraudulently induced A.L.'s biological mother into giving up A.L. to them; (3) Father was arrested on felony burglary charges and lewdness charges, several of which led to guilty pleas or convictions; (4) Father pleaded guilty to numerous probation violations; (5) among Father's probation violations was one for criminal mischief, in which Father "admitted to writing words on a public utility power box which contemplated the rape and mutilation of a female minor" in revoltingly explicit detail; (6) Father has accessed "child pornography sites on the [I]nternet"; and (7) Mother admitted to a Department of Child and Family Services case worker that she knew Father accessed child pornography sites on the Internet, and told the case worker that she had also accessed pornographic sites on the Internet.

Reasonable inferences from these specific allegations include the following: (1) pornography, including child pornography, was regularly accessed in the home; (2) Father's conduct endangered A.L.'s safety; (3) Mother acquiesced to Father's engaging in these activities; (4) there are no traditional family ties that would act to inhibit Mother and Father's activities in relation to A.L.; (5) Mother and Father are not providing "care necessary for health, safety, morals, or well-being," Utah Code Ann. § 78-3a-103(1)(r)(i)(C) (Supp. 1999); and (6) Mother and Father have no legal authority to care for A.L.'s safety and medical needs. Our review of the facts and reasonable inferences leads to the conclusion that the State's petition adequately sets forth facts as required by section

78-3a-305(4)(c) "to support the conclusion that the minor[s]" were neglected.

We affirm.
 
 

______________________________
Norman H. Jackson,
Presiding Judge -----

WE CONCUR:
 
 

______________________________
Gregory K. Orme, Judge
 
 

______________________________
William A. Thorne Jr., Judge