Dept. of Human Services v. M. E.

“If the involvement of friends and family members sufficiently counters the risk to a child otherwise presented by a parent’s deficits so that the child is safe, dependency jurisdiction is not warranted.” Dept. of Human Services v. J. G. K., 298 Or App 398, 402, 449 P3d 531 (2019).

Mother appealed the juvenile court’s decision to take dependency jurisdiction of her four children. On appeal, Mother argued the court made legal and factual errors in deciding her children were at risk of harm because, prior to the hearing, she had planned for third-party family members to help her while she addressed her alcohol problem. In response, DHS argued there was legally sufficient evidence supporting the decision by the juvenile court that the children were at risk of harm. “If the involvement of friends and family members sufficiently counters the risk to a child otherwise presented by a parent’s deficits so that the child is safe, dependency jurisdiction is not warranted.”  Dept. of Human Services v. J. G. K., 298 Or App 398, 402, 449 P3d 531 (2019). The Court held that Mother’s arrangements with the third-party family members permitted the conclusion that the children were not at risk from Mother’s alcohol problem at the time of the jurisdictional hearing. Reversed and remanded.