Foster home or pre-adoptive home decision

Affirmed - DCF did not act abuse its discretion in determining the appropriate level of care for the child; even though the kinship family created an increased health risk by smoking in the presence of an asthmatic child and the birth mother wanted the child to stay with the Appellant. There is a…

Affirmed - DCF had reasonable cause to remove a foster child and revoke the license of the foster home when the Appellant did not disclose the criminal record of a resident in the home and both the adult with the criminal record and the Appellant refused to discuss the criminal charge with DCF.

Affirmed - DCF had reasonable cause to support a decision against the Appellant Foster Mother where: (1) Appellant lied or withheld information from DCF; (2) Appellant disappeared from the home for weeks at a time and left the child in an unapproved caretaker’s care when that caretaker had a…

Affirmed - DCF had reasonable cause to remove a child from Appellant's foster home where Appellant (1) had an unapproved person with an open criminal record living with them; and (2) allowed unsupervised visits of the parent with the child, especially when the goal is adoption. The best interests of…

Affirmed - DCF had reasonable cause to revoke Appellant Foster Parents’ license and remove children from their pre-adoptive kinship home where: (1) Appellant Foster Parents appear to be sabotaging relationship between children and birth parents by having children call them “mommy and daddy” against…

Reversed - DCF did not have reasonable cause to remove a child from a foster home or revoke the license of the Appellant Foster Parent where: (1) Appellant Foster Parent maintained a happy and safe environment for the children, (2) the children were unaware of drug use in the home, (3) the children…

Affirmed - DCF’s decision to remove children from Appellant’s kinship foster/pre-adoptive home was reasonable where the Appellants, great grandmother and great aunt, violated their established safety plan; there were substantial concerns that the children lacked order and were missing daycare, which…

Affirmed - The Hearing Officer found that the Department’s decision to remove children from Appellant’s DCF kinship foster/pre-adoptive home was reasonable; the decision was affirmed. The Department found that the appellants, great grandmother and great aunt, violated their established safety plan.…

Affirmed - DCF had reasonable cause to find neglect, terminate foster care placement for two children, and revoke Appellant’s foster care license where: (1) Appellant left children in care of her son and did not disclose his history of substance use, sexualized behavior, and sexual assault; (2)…

Affirmed - DCF did not violate regulations, policies, or procedures in revoking kinship care license where Appellants did not show adequate efforts to address the emotional needs of the child. Appellants showed no desire to be a part of their first child’s life once the child was hospitalized for…

Affirmed - DCF had reasonable cause to revoke Appellant’s unrestricted family resources license when (1) Appellant had only hosted one foster child over the course of fifteen months in violation of DCF policy; (2) it was noted the Appellant had provided exemplary care and invaluable Spanish-language…

Affirmed - DCF had reasonable cause to revoke the foster care license of a foster parent when the parent did not provide a reason for requesting that DCF remove a foster child from care. A foster parent must able to manage the stressful situation of having a foster child. The foster parent was also…

Affirmed - DCF had reasonable cause to revoke a license to provide kinship foster care where Appellant Foster Parent: (1) repeatedly lied to DCF about the presence in the home of a person with a prior criminal history; (2) failed to exercise due care in supervising the children; (3) disregarded a…

Affirmed - DCF had reasonable cause to believe that the child has been neglected and that the Appellant's foster care license should be revoked where Appellant allowed the children to have an unsupervised visit with their birth mother who has a history of substance use. Appellant later encouraged…

Affirmed - DCF had reasonable cause to support allegations of neglect and physical abuse where the Appellant Adoptive Father purposefully hit the child with a sandal, leaving a clear mark that was visible on the child for a week. The child stated he was afraid of Appellant Adoptive Father and that…