In the December 16, 2011 opinion in SCDSS v. Mother and Father, the Court of Appeals reversed a family court permanency planning order requiring the Department of Social Services (DSS) to bring a termination of parental rights (TPR) action against Mother and instead ordered the matter remanded for a reunification plan. This case started when [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Child Abuse and Neglect’
Court of Appeals reverses permanency plan of termination of parental rights where Mother remedied conditions that led to removal
Posted Friday, December 23rd, 2011 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Adoption/Termination of Parental Rights, Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific
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Tags: Child Abuse and Neglect, Department of Social Services, South Carolina Court of Appeals, Termination of Parental Rights
Posted in Adoption/Termination of Parental Rights, Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific | No Comments »
Who buggered my dog?
Posted Thursday, September 22nd, 2011 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Of Interest to General Public, South Carolina Appellate Decisions
3 Comments »
In the September 21, 2011 Court of Appeals opinion of South Carolina Department of Social Services v. Mary C., a child’s therapist opined that a three-year old’s masturbating and defying her potty training by urinating on the floor were signs of “sexualized behaviors” indicative of sexual abuse. This leads me to ponder: who buggered my dog? [...]
Tags: Benjamin Stevens, Child Abuse and Neglect, Department of Social Services, South Carolina Court of Appeals
Posted in Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Of Interest to General Public, South Carolina Appellate Decisions | 3 Comments »
Can inability to remedy a child’s morbid obesity be considered child abuse or neglect?
Posted Sunday, June 26th, 2011 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Jurisprudence, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Of Interest to General Public
5 Comments »
Until recently I had been representing the family of a child whose morbid obesity led to repeated Department of Social Services interventions. His medical doctors could find no organic reason for the child’s morbid obesity and warned he was at high risk of early death or serious health problems unless he lost weight and kept [...]
Tags: Child Abuse and Neglect, Jurisprudence, Obesity
Posted in Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Jurisprudence, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Of Interest to General Public | 5 Comments »
Concerns over incorrect findings in family court sexual abuse allegations
Posted Saturday, February 5th, 2011 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Jurisprudence, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Of Interest to General Public
2 Comments »
Perhaps because I more typically represent parents than children in family court, I have long been concerned with the risks of incorrect findings that a parent has sexually abused a child–the problem of “false positives.” The two family court cases that continue to trouble me years after their conclusion both involve fathers who were found [...]
Tags: Child Abuse and Neglect, Child Custody, Jurisprudence, Sexual Abuse
Posted in Child Custody, Jurisprudence, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Of Interest to General Public | 2 Comments »
Despite children already being removed, reversible error for family court to order removal in a DSS intervention case
Posted Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific
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Today’s Court of Appeals opinion in SCDSS v. Randy S., 390 S.C. 100, 700 S.E.2d 250 (Ct.App. 2010), reverses the family court’s decision to remove children from the Father’s care, where DSS brought the lawsuit against Father as an action for intervention[1] rather than for removal.[2] Randy S. seems like a strange case for the appellate [...]
Tags: Child Abuse and Neglect, Department of Social Services, South Carolina Court of Appeals
Posted in Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific | No Comments »
When the buck stops nowhere, failure is to be expected: the problems created by the lack of tort liability for a Social Service agency’s failure to protect a child from abusive caregivers
Posted Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Jurisprudence, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Of Interest to General Public
9 Comments »
My first year of law school the United States Supreme Court, in the case of Deshaney v. Winnebago Cty. Soc. Servs. Dept., 489 U.S. 189 (1989), rejected a claim that negligence of a child protective service agency to protect a child from an abusive caregiver was a violation of the due process clause of the [...]
Tags: Charleston Post & Courier, Child Abuse and Neglect, Department of Social Services, Jurisprudence, New York Times, United States Supreme Court
Posted in Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Jurisprudence, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Of Interest to General Public | 9 Comments »
Will the Recent Changes to the Abuse and Neglect Statute Make These Cases Harder to Settle?
Posted Sunday, July 18th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Guardians Ad Litem, Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific
1 Comment »
I received an email from a recently licensed attorney noting a previous blog and asking whether I thought she, as the guardian ad litem in an abuse and neglect case, should be making recommendations on the merits. This got me thinking about how the recent changes to the abuse and neglect statute, explained here, will impact [...]
Tags: Child Abuse and Neglect, Department of Social Services, Litigation Strategy
Posted in Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Guardians Ad Litem, Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific | 1 Comment »
Recent changes to South Carolina “Child Protection and Permanency” statute make it harder for parents to obtain return of their children
Posted Friday, June 18th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Adoption/Termination of Parental Rights, Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific
No Comments »
On May 12, 2010, South Carolina enacted Senate bill 1172, which makes changes to the Child Protection and Permanency statute. Among the highlights: The revisions limits when the Department of Social Services (DSS) will be required by the family court to make “reasonable efforts to preserve or reunify a family.” S.C. Code § 63-7-1640. It [...]
Tags: Child Abuse and Neglect, Children's Law Center, South Carolina Code, Termination of Parental Rights
Posted in Adoption/Termination of Parental Rights, Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific | No Comments »