Court Opinion

ID: 9711970
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:43:05.694745+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:08.750281
License: Public Domain

McGINLEY, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
The majority would apply our decision in L.W.B. v. Sosnowski, 117 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 120, 543 A.2d 1241 (1988) to the present case to find that the testimony of L.K.’s mother was properly admitted into evidence before the Hearing Officer. In Sosnowski, the caseworker had recorded or carefully noted the child’s lucid words. Id., 117 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. at 134, 543 A.2d at 1247. In Sosnowski we stated: “the hearing officer could regard the caseworker witness, as professional person, to be disinterested and therefore reliable, in contrast to the possibly biased testimony of warring parents and others.” Id. (Emphasis added.) Clearly, the finding of reliability in Sosnowski was based upon the caseworker being a professional and a *465disinterested party. In the present case, the majority would extend the Sosnowski hearsay exception to statements made to L.K.’s mother, who cannot realistically be considered a disinterested party.
With regard to L.K.’s statements made to the case worker and social worker, I agree with the learned majority that the time, content, and circumstances of the statements provide sufficient indicia of reliability. However, in her decision, the Hearing Officer stated that “[t]he testimony of the mother and the stipulation to the testimony of the father are given weight and considered as this testimony is not from ‘warring parents.’ ” Hearing Officer’s Decision, dated February 13, 1990 at 5. Whether the hearsay testimony comes from parents involved in a dispute is not the test outlined in Sosnowski. In Sosnowski a premium was placed upon the experience, training, and education of the caseworker and the caseworker’s disinterested role. Further deviation from the rules of evidence endangers the fairness of these emotionally charged proceedings.
Accordingly, I would reverse.