In re Ashley S.

After various reports of neglect by their mother, the juvenile court determined two sisters to be children in need of assistance (CINA) and placed them in foster care pending implementation of a plan for their permanent placement. After the girls had been in foster care for nearly a year, the court of special appeals reversed the CINA designation of the younger sister and the foster care placement of both girls due to the insufficiency of the juvenile court's factual findings. The juvenile court subsequently again determined the younger sister was a CINA. The juvenile court then again took up the matter of deciding on a plan for the girls' permanent placement. In so doing, the court considered the girls' positive experiences with their foster parent and their mother's failure to cooperate with court orders and social workers. As a result, the court approved a change of the permanency plan from reunification with the mother to adoption for both girls. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the juvenile court, in deciding to approve a permanency plan of adoption, properly regarded all the relevant circumstances and facts before it in reaching a decision that was in the children's best interests. View "In re Ashley S." on Justia Law