Preview:

FILED: March 28, 2012

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF OREGON In the Matter of K. P., a Child. DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Petitioner-Respondent, v. S. P., Appellant. Umatilla County Circuit Court JV110070; Petition Number JV110070A; A149250

Ronald J. Pahl, Judge. Argued and submitted on January 05, 2012. Erin K. Galli argued the cause for appellant. With her on the brief was Chilton & Galli, LLC. Christina M. Hutchins, Senior Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent. On the brief were John R. Kroger, Attorney General, Anna M. Joyce, Solicitor General, and Laura S. Anderson, Senior Assistant Attorney General. Before Haselton, Presiding Judge, and Armstrong, Judge, and Duncan, Judge. ARMSTRONG, J. Reversed and remanded.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

ARMSTRONG, J. In this dependency case, the juvenile court asserted jurisdiction over parents' newborn child, K, on the basis that parents have conditions that prevent them from safely parenting the child. See ORS 419B.100(1)(c) (set out below).1 Mother appeals from the jurisdictional judgment, arguing that (1) the court plainly erred in relying on two allegations as to father that "unfairly shifted the burden of production to father"; (2) the evidence regarding the allegations as to father is insufficient to support jurisdiction; and (3) "the evidence supports only some of the court's findings [as to mother] and those findings are insufficient to support a conclusion that the child is endangered." Father does not appeal. As explained below, we conclude that, under the circumstances of this case, mother's challenge to the jurisdictional allegations pertaining to father is properly before us; further, we agree with mother that the evidence is insufficient, as a matter of law, to support jurisdiction over K.2 Accordingly, we reverse and remand. In this case, "our task is to review the facts found by the juvenile court to determine whether they are supported by any evidence, and then to determine whether, as a matter of law, those facts together with facts implicitly found by the juvenile court,
1

Although ORS 419B.100 was amended by the 2011 legislature, see Or Laws 2011, ch 291,

Download Dept. of Human Services v. S. P..pdf

Oregon Law