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Judge ends juvenile protective supervision after mother completes services; grandparent visitation left to custody court
Summary
The court found the parent complied with services and sobriety requirements and ordered case services satisfied and the child reunified; the grandparenting-time dispute remains a separate custody matter.
A Lenawee County Probate & Juvenile Court judge ordered the termination of juvenile protective supervision and released the child and parent after finding the parent had complied with required services and demonstrated sustained sobriety.
Guardian ad litem Katarina Dumont told the court she met the child at school and had “no concerns for him physically, educationally, [or] emotionally,” and said she did not object to closing the protective case so long as grandparenting-time issues are resolved through custody proceedings. Department counsel Nastasia Thomas told the court the agency had worked to support the family and asked the court to “terminate jurisdiction under the NA file, and proceed under the custody file.”
Foster care worker Brandy Delagarza described the parent’s progress in services, reporting that the Family Together program had closed services for the family on the seventh of the month and that the parent had “more than a little over more than 1 year of sobriety.” Delagarza said the department had no current concerns about the child’s safety in the parent’s care.
Counsel clarified that a prior order from the July 31 hearing (stamped August 1 in the record) did not authorize overnights for grandparenting time, though the parent had been informally allowing additional contact. Delagarza told the court that therapeutic sessions involving the child and paternal grandparents had ceased after a therapist reported the sessions had become unproductive and focused on “finger pointing” among adults.
After hearing testimony and recommendations, the judge announced, “Will be the order of the court that the case has been satisfied with regard to case services. Child has been reunified in the jurisdiction, both child and parent, are released.” The court emphasized that grandparent visitation remains a matter for the circuit/custody court and not for the juvenile protective docket.
The court admitted the written court report submitted January 6 into the record without objection. The protective case was closed and court jurisdiction was terminated; any formal changes to grandparenting time must be pursued separately in the custody case.
