Department of Human Services v. M. A. H.

• Court: Oregon Court of Appeals
• Area(s) of Law: Juvenile Law
• Date Filed: 06-24-2015
• Case #: A158399
• Judge(s)/Court Below: Lagesen, J. for the Court; Duncan, P.J.; & Flynn, J.

Under ORS 419B.100(1)(c), dependency jurisdiction is only granted when there is a current threat of serious loss or injury to the child at the time of the jurisdiction hearing.

The Department of Human Services (DHS) submitted a jurisdictional petition for a child, M. DHS claimed that M's mother, who has sole custody for M, and M's father both posed a risk to M and requested that M be removed from her mother's custody. At the hearing DHS relied on evidence of events that occurred up until July 2014, but filed their petition in November 2014. The trial court held that the "M's conditions and circumstances endangered her at the time of the hearing, so as to warrant jurisdiction." The Court held that because the evidence was from months prior to the hearing, M was not in any present danger if she were to stay in the custody of her mother. Reversed.

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