Opinion ID: 1941865
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Impact of the Court's Role as Parens Patriae

Text: Appellants argue that nonetheless the court, as parens patriae, has the power to inquire into the merits of the government's determination that the neglect petition is not supported by the available evidence or that a change of circumstances warrants dismissal. Appellee, A.S., argues that the court's parens patriae role comes into play only after an adjudication, a point with which we cannot agree. The court's role as parens patriae in neglect proceedings is well established in this jurisdiction and elsewhere. See In re O.L., 584 A.2d 1230, 1232-34 (D.C.1990); S.G., supra, 581 A.2d at 779; S.K., supra, 564 A.2d at 1388; People ex rel. G.S., 820 P.2d 1178, 1180 (Colo.App.1991); see also Wentzel v. Montgomery General Hospital, Inc., 293 Md. 685, 447 A.2d 1244, 1253 (Md.App.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1147, 103 S.Ct. 790, 74 L.Ed.2d 995 (1983). [12] This historic concept allows the courts having jurisdiction of a case involving minor children to provide the relief necessary to protect the best interests of the child. Wentzel, 447 A.2d at 1253; In re Baby M., 217 N.J.Super. 313, 525 A.2d 1128, 1133 (Ch. Div.1987). The court's parens patriae responsibility necessarily begins well in advance of any adjudication of neglect under our statute. In this jurisdiction, prior to any factfinding hearing leading to an adjudication of neglect, the court has statutory authority, inter alia, to remove the child from the home and to place the child in shelter care under certain specified conditions, if necessary to protect the child, and to prescribe a schedule for visitation by the parents. D.C.Code §§ 16-2310(b), (d), -2312. At any time following the filing of the petition, the court on its own motion may order a physical or mental examination for the child. D.C.Code § 16-2315. In reposing such powers in the court, the legislature could not have intended to strip the court of its inherent parens patriae authority to act in the best interest of the child within that statutory framework. See O.L., supra, 584 A.2d at 1233. That does not mean that the concept can substitute for the procedures enacted by the legislature to achieve the child's best interest. See In re C.A.P., 356 A.2d 335, 344-45 (D.C.1976). The parens patriae power must be exercised in proper circumstances and within statutory constraints. Id. at 344. However, there is neither authority nor any logical reason for upholding A.S.'s position that the court's parens patriae role is deferred until after an adjudication of neglect. The fact that the statute also places within the power of the executive branch, through the Corporation Counsel, parens patriae responsibilities to the child does not dictate a contrary result. In neglect proceedings, both the court and the Corporation Counsel have a parens patriae role which requires each to act to assure the best interest of the minor child at every stage of the proceeding. See In re J.J., 142 Ill.2d 1, 153 Ill.Dec. 239, 242, 566 N.E.2d 1345, 1348 (1991); In re A.F., 234 Ill.App.3d 1010, 602 N.E.2d 480, 483 (1 Dist.1991). The question is whether and to what extent these dual roles provide a basis for the court to look behind the Corporation Counsel's evaluation of the merits of the case and that official's pretrial decision to dismiss for lack of evidence or for other reasons. As to the Corporation Counsel's decision to dismiss based on insufficiency of the evidence, we perceive no basis to conclude that the court's parens patriae role should override a decision which the statutory scheme clearly vests in the Corporation Counsel. [13] See C.A.P., supra, 356 A.2d at 344-45. Therefore, where as in the cases of J.J.Z. and M.A.Z., the Corporation Counsel makes a motion to dismiss based on insufficient evidence and has made a good faith determination that it cannot establish the allegations of the petition, in the absence of an objection based on a lack of good faith, dismissal is appropriate. See D.B., supra, 117 Daily Wash.L.Rptr. at 670. A motion by the Corporation Counsel to dismiss a neglect petition for reasons other than insufficiency of the evidence, as in the cases of B.S., K.S., S.C. and R.S., raises different considerations. In such a case, the government does not claim that its action is not maintainable due to insufficient evidence or that the child is not neglected, but rather that other reasons prompt the government not to proceed. In this area, the trial court can exercise the parens patriae role without intruding into areas reserved exclusively to the Corporation Counsel. Thus, the trial court may review such motions to dismiss. The government's argument of changed circumstances is in reality an argument that the parent has been rehabilitated and not that the neglect, for which it does not disclaim supporting evidence, has ceased. The fact that the parent has removed herself from an environment that facilitated the neglect and has changed her lifestyle by the time of the factfinding hearing does not alter the fact that neglect may have occurred. Under these circumstances some further inquiry into the child's best interests is warranted. The stated purpose of the neglect rules is to provide for the just determination of every neglect proceeding. Super.Ct.Neg.R. 2. Moreover, this court has recognized the longstanding principle that in a civil proceeding predicated on alleged child neglect or abuse, the best interest of the child is the paramount consideration.... Neglect statutes authorizing state intervention on a child's behalf are remedial, and they should be liberally construed to enable the court to carry out its obligation as parens patriae.  S.G., supra, 581 A.2d at 778. As stated earlier, we discern no statutory impediment to judicial scrutiny on non-sufficiency grounds, as we do for questions of evidentiary sufficiency, to pursue the petition. Additionally, one cannot determine whether a child's welfare requires the intervention of the state `by simply examining the most recent episode.' O.L., supra, 584 A.2d at 1233 (citation omitted). Some inquiry about the past and present are therefore essential. In the cases of B.S., S.C., K.S. and R.S., the Corporation Counsel's motion to dismiss was not based on insufficient evidence, but rather on alleged changed circumstances in the mother's behavior and lifestyle. Under such circumstances, the trial court's inquiry must take into account the best interests and welfare of the child. [14] In so doing, it should conduct such inquiry as may be necessary to determine that the best interest of the child will not be compromised by dismissal of the petition, while giving due weight to the judgment of the petitioning agency. Cases from other jurisdiction support this approach for various reasons. In Illinois, where both the State's Attorney and the court are responsible for ensuring the best interests of a minor, the Supreme Court of that state held that the circuit court had not only the authority, but the duty, to determine whether the best interests of the minor, the minor's family, and the community would be served by the State's Attorney's motion to dismiss the petition. J.J., supra, 153 Ill.Dec. at 243, 244, 566 N.E.2d at 1349, 1350. The GAL for the three minors objected to dismissal. Id. at 241, 566 N.E.2d at 1347. The State's Attorney argued that, as the real party in interest, the decision to proceed or not was a matter of executive discretion. Id. at 1348. Observing that neglect proceedings are civil in nature, the Illinois court rejected the notion that the State's Attorney had the same wide discretion that it has in criminal prosecutions. Id. at 242-43, 566 N.E.2d at 1348-49. Most important to the court's decision was that the controlling statute provided that `the court may direct the course of [neglect proceedings] so as promptly to ascertain the jurisdictional facts and to gather fully information bearing upon the current condition and future welfare of persons subject to [the Juvenile Court] Act.' Id. at 243, 566 N.E.2d at 1349 (quoting Ill.Rev.Stat.1987, ch. 37, par. 801-2(2)). The Illinois court was persuaded that only by holding a hearing on the merits to determine whether dismissal was in the best interest of the minor could the court fulfill the responsibility imposed by the quoted statutory provision. Id. In G.S., supra, it was the children's grandmother who opposed dismissal of a dependency and neglect petition for her two grandchildren in spite of the stipulation reached by the GAL, the Department of Social Services and the children's father. Id. at 1179-80. Acknowledging that the state is the exclusive party to file and prosecute neglect petitions, the Colorado court observed that once filed, the trial court is not required to dismiss the petition merely because the state chooses, for any reason, not to pursue the proceedings. Id. at 1180. The basis for that conclusion was that the GAL had the affirmative duty to participate in the proceedings to the extent necessary to represent the children's best interest. Id. However, the court held that the grandmother, a private intervenor, had no similar statutory responsibility, and therefore, no entitlement to the same status as the GAL, the child's representative. Id. at 1181. Therefore, the court found that no evidentiary hearing was necessary before granting dismissal so long as its order of dismissal did not constitute an abuse of discretion. Id. In looking to these cases for guidance, we are mindful of the differences in our statutory requirements. In Illinois, parties other than the government are authorized to file neglect petitions. [15] Therefore, we do not find these cases persuasive authority for determining whether dismissal is required where the entity solely responsible for the prosecution determines in its discretion and in good faith that its evidence is insufficient to support the petition. On the other hand, although the District of Columbia has no provision in its neglect statute requiring the court to gather information bearing upon the current condition and future welfare of persons subject to [the Juvenile Court] Act, see J.J., 153 Ill.Dec. at 243, 566 N.E.2d at 1349, there is no statutory impediment to its parens patriae role of assuring the child's best interest where the Corporation Counsel makes no good faith claim that the allegations of neglect are not supportable. Accordingly, we do find persuasive under such circumstances the cases from other jurisdictions which require that the court make an appropriate inquiry to determine whether dismissal is in the child's best interests. Id. at 243, 566 N.E.2d at 1349. In Colorado, as in the District of Columbia, only the state can file neglect petitions. In re R.E., 729 P.2d 1032, 1033 (Colo.App. 1986). Nevertheless, the Colorado court apparently requires an inquiry into the merits of the underlying claim of neglect whenever the GAL, who has an affirmative duty to participate in the proceedings, objects to dismissal. G.S., supra, 820 P.2d at 1180. [16] We are not persuaded that a full factfinding hearing on the neglect petition, see D.C.Code §§ 16-2316, -2317, is appropriate in order to resolve the motion to dismiss even over the objection of the GAL. That would defeat the purpose of efforts to dismiss and reunify the family, if in the best interest of the child, prior to adjudication. However, the inquiry must be sufficient for the court to ascertain whether dismissal is in the child's best interest, and the court is not precluded, in its discretion, from hearing evidence to the extent necessary to discharge its responsibility. In the case of B.S., S.C., K.S., and R.S., the record discloses an adequate inquiry and that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting dismissal. The court had before it the facts surrounding the claim of neglect and the change of circumstances in the mother's living arrangements, including a move to her own mother's home. A child care arrangement with relatives was available if the mother could not carry out her responsibility. The court inquired of the Corporation Counsel whether she had conducted an adequate investigation of the facts before moving to dismiss, and she responded that she did. The court considered in addition the representations of facts made by the GAL and the legal arguments of the parties, including those presented in supplemental briefing. On this record, the inquiry was adequate, and we find no abuse of discretion in the trial court's decision granting dismissal. For the foregoing reasons we affirm the orders of the trial court dismissing the petitions. Affirmed.