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Right
of Noncustodial Parent to Challenge Neglect Petition
The Supreme
Court held that a noncustodial parent is entitled to enter a plea
as to whether a child is neglected. In so holding, the Court affirmed,
on different grounds, an appellate court decision reversing a trial
court’s termination of parental rights.
Background
The respondents, an un-married couple who had their first child
committed to DCF, had two other children committed to DCF when they
were born. At the hearing on the neglect petitions regarding both
children, the mother entered a nolo plea; the father was not permitted
to participate because he was deemed the non-custodial parent. After
subsequent motions were filed addressing the question of the father’s
non-custodial status, the court denied the father’s motion to open
the neglect judgment, but also ordered that the issue be resolved
by the fact-finder at the subsequent termination of parental rights
trial. At the termination hearing, the court determined that the
father had not provided enough evidence to prove that he was a custodial
parent and terminated both the mother’s and father’s parental rights.
On appeal, the father claimed his parental rights were improperly
terminated since he was not allowed to take part in the neglect
proceeding and he was indeed a custodial parent.
The Appellate
Court found that the trial court erred when it held that the father
had not presented sufficient evidence for the court to find that
he was a custodial parent. The Court noted that the mother did not
have to prove she was a custodial parent and there is no legal authority
that stands for the proposition that a parent must prove that he
or she is custodial to contest a neglect petition. There is a presumption
that the rights of both parents with regard to their children are
equal, and here both parents were at the hospital together for the
births of both children, and they spent equal amounts of time with
them before the children were taken into custody by the DCF.
The Commissioner
appealed and the Supreme Court granted certification as to the following
question: Is a non-custodial parent entitled to contest a neglect
petition? The Court answered this question in the affirmative, thereby
upholding the appellate court’s decision, albeit on a different
legal theory.
Holding
(Rogers, CJ) The Supreme Court held that a noncustodial parent cannot
be prohibited from entering a plea in a neglect proceeding if the
parent seeks to contest the issue of whether the child was neglected
(as opposed to contested whether he or she was “at fault” or “responsible”
for the child’s condition). The Court acknowledged that although
Conn. P.B. section 35a-1 provides that a non-custodial parent may
“stand silent” the rule cannot be interpreted to mean that a noncustodial
parent is prohibited from entering a plea. The Court also referred
to previous appellate court case, In re David L, in which the court
held that a noncustodial parent was not prohibited from contesting
whether a child had been neglected. The David L. court had held
that the parent may not plead that he or she was not responsible
for the neglect. The Court held that preventing a noncustodial parent
from challenging a neglect adjudication, but then permitting the
use of that adjudication as a predicate finding in a subsequent
termination of parental rights decision raised serious constitutional
due process concerns.
Note
that the Court queries as to whether the holding of David L., that
a noncustodial parent cannot challenge his or her “responsibility”
for neglect, can apply in a case where the state’s theory of the
case is based on the doctrine of “predictive neglect.” In such a
case, the Court opined that “there are good reasons to allow a noncustodial
parent to enter a plea that, even if the custodial parent might
neglect the child in the future if that parent were to retain sole
custody, the noncustodial parent would not neglect the child if
given custody.”
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