Opinion ID: 1437603
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Abandonment of Child, Medically Ready for Discharge, at a D.C. Hospital and Failure to Make Effort to Maintain Contact With Child

Text: The trial court found that the parents did not violate the precise letter of the law as set forth in D.C.Code § 16-2353(b)(3A) because the child was not ready for discharge at the time that they left. [11] However, the court found that the parents violated the spirit of the law because they failed to maintain contact with the child and the hospital. The child was only medically ready to leave HSC a short time before the termination hearing. Despite the infrequency of the parents' visits, there was evidence that both parents visited the child and talked about her to hospital staff and DHS social workers and that they consistently expressed their interest in having custody of the child.