Dept. of Human Services v. A.B.

In a juvenile case to determine a parent’s jurisdiction of children, a single positive urinalysis taken prior to the trial is not sufficient to establish a substance abuse issue when accompanied by other negative urinalysis taken at the time of the trial.

A.B. appealed the juvenile court’s judgment assuming jurisdiction over three of her children. The juvenile court assumed jurisdiction after finding that (1) A.B.’s substance abuse issues impaired her ability to care for the children; (2) she fails to provide medical, dental, physical, and educational needs for her children; and (3) she failed to provide necessary dental care for her children. The Court denied the state’s motion to dismiss the appeal as moot because the Court found that the jurisdictional judgment of substance abuse and neglect could affect A.B.’s pending custody case against the father. The Court held that the substance abuse allegation cannot be used as a basis for the jurisdictional judgment and remanded this allegation to the juvenile court for dismissal. The Court affirmed all other bases for jurisdictional judgment and found that the juvenile court did not err in assuming jurisdiction. Motion to dismiss denied; jurisdictional judgment remanded for dismissal of jurisdictional ground of substance abuse; otherwise affirmed.