Dept. of Human Services v. C. C.

• Court: Oregon Court of Appeals
• Area(s) of Law: Juvenile Law
• Date Filed: 11-07-2012
• Case #: A150460
• Judge(s)/Court Below: Wollheim, J. for the Court; Schuman, P.J.; and Nakamoto, J.

Under ORS 419B.340(2), the court shall enter a description of what efforts were made to reunite the family and what could have prevented the separation of the family.

Mother appealed a juvenile court's dispositional judgment committing her child to the custody of DHS. Mother alleged judgment was defective because it lacked descriptions of family reunification efforts made by DHS, and why further efforts would be futile. DHS argued that the error was not preserved and that Mother had failed to preserve it. Mother countered that error preservation was not required, and if it was then the Court should exercise its discretion because it was plain error. Although, DHS agreed that the error had been committed, the Court should not use its discretion because the error could have been quickly remedied at the hearing if Mother had raised the issue, and the error's gravity was slight. The Court agreed with DHS that the error had to be preserved, and subsequently declined to exercise discretion. Affirmed.

Share Subscribe