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Wanna See Your Brother?
Get a Lawyer
July 31, 2008 permalink
Lawyers who already regulate relations between husbands and wives, and between parents and children, have found a new revenue stream: controlling visits between brothers and sisters.
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Where a father has appealed from a Juvenile Court order terminating his parental rights, his appeal must fail because "the judge's finding of the father's unfitness [was] supported by clear and convincing evidence and her subsidiary findings amply supported by the record."
A remand must be ordered, however, on the issue of sibling visitation.
"Here, we read paragraph 220 of the judge's decision as containing the judge's finding as to the DSS's visitation plan, ... rather than her own ruling as to the schedule and conditions for sibling visitation. Accordingly, we remand the matter to the trial judge to make explicit (a) her findings and ruling as to whether sibling visitation is in Rico's best interests and, if so, as to which siblings; and (b) her findings and rulings as to the schedule and means by which such visitation is to occur. In all other respects, the decree is affirmed."
Adoption of Rico (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-113-08) (11 pages) (Wolohojian, J.) (Appeals Court) Case heard by Rebekah J. Crampton Kamukala, J., in Juvenile Court. Jeanne M. Kaiser for the father; Robert E. Young for the child; Annapurna Balakrishna for Department of Social Services (Docket No. 07-P-1883) (July 11, 2008).
Detailed Information
- Court
- Appeals Court
- Docket #
- 11-113-08
- Case Name
- Adoption of Rico
- Judge
- Wolohojian
Source: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, with thanks to Fern