Case Title: In re Kaliyah B.

Citation: 

Docket Number: 2017 ME 134

State: maine

Court: Maine Supreme Court

Date: 2017-06-27T00:00:00Z

Document:
MAINE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT 
Reporter of Decisions 
Decision: 
2017 ME 134 
Docket: 
Pen-17-53 
Submitted 
On Briefs: June 14, 2017 
Decided: 
June 27, 2017 
 
Panel: 
SAUFLEY, C.J., and ALEXANDER, MEAD, GORMAN, HJELM, and HUMPHREY, JJ. 
 
 
IN RE KALIYAH B. 
 
 
PER CURIAM 
 
[¶1]  The mother of Kaliyah B. appeals from an order of the District 
Court (Bangor, Jordan, J.) finding jeopardy as to both her and the father 
pursuant to 22 M.R.S. § 4035(4-A) (2016), and ordering that the child be 
placed in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services 
pursuant to 22 M.R.S. § 4036(1)(F) (2016).1  Because (1) a dispositional order 
of custody is not appealable,2 (2) the mother does not challenge the finding of 
jeopardy as to her, and (3) the evidence supports the court’s finding of 
jeopardy as to the father, we affirm the judgment.  
                                         
1  The father has not appealed. 
2  To the extent the mother challenges the dispositional order placing the child in Department 
custody rather than in the father’s custody, such a challenge is interlocutory and not properly 
before us.  See 22 M.R.S. §§ 4006, 4036 (2016).  As we have recently reiterated, “the disposition 
ordered by a court after it makes [a jeopardy] finding is not appealable.”  In re Z.S., 2015 ME 110, 
¶ 8, 121 A.3d 1286 (alteration in original) (quotation marks omitted).  Accordingly, we do not 
address that aspect of the mother’s appeal.  For the purposes of this appeal, we assume without 
deciding that one parent has standing to challenge a jeopardy determination as to another parent. 
 
2 
 
[¶2]  The court found, by a preponderance of the evidence, that as to 
both the mother and the father, the child was in circumstances of jeopardy to 
her health and welfare.  See 22 M.R.S. § 4035(2); In re Dorothy V., 2001 ME 97, 
¶¶ 11-12, 774 A.2d 1118.  The court based this determination on the 
following factual findings, which are supported by competent evidence in the 
record. 
 
[¶3]  The mother suffers from substance abuse and mental health 
issues, has not participated in visitation with the child or attended services, 
used heroin regularly while pregnant with the child, and remained addicted to 
heroin as of the jeopardy hearing.  The father has a history of domestic 
violence and “has been neglectful and has failed to protect [the child].” 
 
[¶4]  In October 2016, when the father had custody of the child, the 
mother called the father upset about her heroin addiction, her lack of support 
from family members, and her desire to see the child.  At this time, the child 
was a young, vulnerable infant, dependent on her caregiver.  The father took 
the child to live with the mother for several days.  Although the father knew, 
having been informed by the Department, that the child was not to be left 
alone with the mother unsupervised, on October 8, 2016, he left the child 
alone with the mother while he traveled to New York City.  Upon learning of 
 
3 
the arrangement, the Department undertook a search for the child, which 
lasted several hours before the child was located.  During the search effort, the 
father spoke with the Department over the phone and lied repeatedly about 
his and the child’s whereabouts.  
 
[¶5]  The court concluded that by leaving the child alone with the 
heroin-addicted mother and lying to those charged with protecting the child, 
the father exhibited a “serious failure in judgment” that created a 
circumstance of jeopardy.  Because the court’s finding that the child was more 
likely than not in circumstances of jeopardy in her father’s care is supported 
by competent record evidence, we affirm the judgment.  See In re E.A., 
2015 ME 37, ¶ 7, 114 A.3d 207. 
 
The entry is: 
Judgment affirmed. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Randy G. Day, Esq., Garland, for appellant Mother 
 
Janet T. Mills, Attorney General, and Meghan Szylvian, Asst. Atty. Gen., Office of 
the Attorney General, Augusta, for appellee Department of Health and Human 
Services  
 
 
Bangor District Court docket number PC-2016-75 
FOR CLERK REFERENCE ONLY