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Court schedules home inspection; dismissal of dependency cases contingent on satisfactory visit
Summary
At a High Plains Child Protection Court motion hearing, attorneys and child-welfare staff agreed that staff will inspect the mother’s home and, if conditions are satisfactory, sign off on dismissal of dependency cases for two children.
At a motion hearing in High Plains Child Protection Court, attorneys for the state, the children and the mother told the judge they expect child-welfare staff to inspect the mother’s home and that the department will sign off on dismissal of the dependency cases for Colton Williams and Kacen Kirby Williams if the home visit is satisfactory.
The agreement would resolve cause numbers 99910-DFM (in the interest of Colton Williams) and 99911-EFM (in the interest of Kacen Kirby Williams) without a contested hearing, the judge said. The court recorded that staff from Saint Francis would check the home and report back; no formal dismissal had been entered in court at the time of the hearing.
The nut of the matter is that department staff reported improvements in the mother’s situation since the filings. The court heard that Medicaid benefits have been activated for the family, food assistance is in place, and the mother has submitted documentation to pursue Supplemental Security Income for one child. The parties said they had not observed recent signs of substance use, and the remaining concern is a physical inspection of the home.
Court participants described a plan for two child-welfare staff members to visit the home the same afternoon. If the staff inspection “checks out,” as the attorneys described it in court, the department will initiate dismissal paperwork. The hearing record shows the plan is contingent on the inspection; the record does not show any formal dismissal or vote by the court during the session.
Court staff also confirmed other case details on the record: the older sibling has been placed in Region 3; Colton is registered to start at East Ridge school, and the school start date was described in court as the 14th (month not specified in the hearing record); the children’s sleeping arrangement was noted as a bunk bed (Colton top, Kacen bottom). The mother said she is awaiting SSI approval and that food stamps are in effect.
The judge closed the hearing after the parties confirmed the inspection plan and asked the department to notify the court by order or to reset a future hearing if dismissal paperwork is not filed.
The court did not enter a final ruling during the session; the outcome remains contingent on the scheduled home inspection.
