A recent case came out of Family Court In the Matter of Scott May 20, 2022, a decision about a respondent who abused and neglected her daughter.  The court concluded that the respondent’s conduct endangered the child and that she lacked fitness to regain custody, and that it was in the child’s best interest to remain with the foster family.  The Department of Social Services had also filed a petition asking that they not be obligated to try to reunify the mother and child but to terminate the mother’s rights, as she was unable to secure stable housing and had mental health issues.  

The respondent mother opposed, saying that she has secured housing and was seeking help for her mental illness as well as her substance abuse issues.  The court denied her objection and allowed the Department of Social Services to change the goal to non-reunification and place the child with the foster parents.  The mother had a 30-year history of removal and parental right terminations with her older children, and she showed an inability to keep predatory men away from her children.  As a result, the agency whose primarily goal is to reunify parents and children as long as the parent complies with the agency’s requests and accepts services to remedy the very issues and problems that caused the neglect and endangerment of the child.

In light of the foregoing, especially due to the mother’s history, the court found that the Department’s obligation to engage in reasonable efforts to return the child to the mother’s custody was not necessary.  This case clearly demonstrates that someone’s history will haunt them. This mother’s history of her disastrous child rearing precluded her from being able to raise this child or any other children. This ruling is of significance because the court not only dealt with the present child but any future children. This is a tremendous leap made by the court.