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Appeals court hears challenge to DCF permanency decision after denial of motion to reopen
Summary
Parents' counsel and child‑advocate counsel asked the appeals panel to vacate a lower court order granting permanent custody to the Department of Children and Families after the trial judge denied a motion to reopen evidence; DCF argued the denial and the unfitness finding were supported by the record.
The panel considered Department of Children and Families and Another v. Mother, docket no. 24P949, a care and protection appeal in which the mother challenges a trial judge’s finding of parental unfitness and the denial of the mother’s motion to reopen evidence after she had been briefly incarcerated during the trial period.
Why it matters: Care and protection cases use a high standard — the trial judge must find current parental unfitness by clear and convincing evidence — and decisions about whether a judge abused discretion in denying a motion to reopen can determine whether children are returned to parents or remain in DCF custody.
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