Dept. of Hum. Servs. v. Z.M.

Juvenile courts may assert dependency jurisdiction over children whose conditions or circumstances are such as to endanger the welfare of the child or of others.

Father plead guilty to multiple sex crimes involving minors who were not his children. Department of Human Services (DHS) dependency petition alleged that because Father is involved in criminal activity and mother admitted she was unable to protect the children, there was no evidence that Father exposed children to his criminal activity. Juvenile courts may assert dependency jurisdiction over children whose conditions or circumstances are such as to endanger the welfare of the child or of others. The Court was not persuaded by DHS’s argument that Father presented a danger to his children because he did not victimize his own children and his activities did not create a risk of harm to them, there is no nexus of harm. Evidence is insufficient to establish that Father’s sexual abuse of minors and other activity creates a significant risk of harm to his children and the mother could not protect the children because Father lacks custody. Reversed.