Care and Protection of Vick (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-084-16)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us 15-P-1451 Appeals Court CARE AND PROTECTION OF VICK.[1] No. 15-P-1451. Plymouth. May 10, 2016. – July 13, 2016. Present: Cypher, Blake, & Henry, JJ. Parent and Child, Care and protection of minor, Custody of minor, Interference with parental rights. Minor, Care and protection, Custody. Petition filed in the Plymouth County Division of the Juvenile Court Department on November 25, 2013. The case was heard by John P. Corbett, J. Karen O. Young for the mother. Rizwanul Huda for the child. Sookyoung Shin, Assistant Attorney General, for Department of Children and Families. Dennis M. Toomey for the father. BLAKE, J. A judge of the Juvenile Court found that the child was in need of care and protection, that the mother was unfit to assume parental responsibility, and that the unfitness was likely to continue into the indefinite future. On appeal, the mother challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the judge’s conclusion that she was unfit, contending that the evidence failed to establish a nexus between her parenting and a showing of harm to the child. She also claims that the judge did not conduct an evenhanded assessment of the evidence, and ignored the child’s preference to live with his mother. The child joins in these arguments. We affirm on the basis that the mother was unfit to assume parental responsibility due to neglect of the child. Background. We summarize the relevant facts and procedural history as set forth in the judge’s decision and as supported by the record, reserving other facts for later discussion. The parents met in high school and, shortly thereafter, the mother became pregnant. The child was born in February, 2002. Immediately after his birth, and for the next four and one-half years, the father was the child’s primary caretaker; during that time period, the father and child lived with the father’s mother. When the father lost his job, he placed the child in the mother’s care. In 2008, the father moved to Georgia, where he has extended family, because he was unable to find employment in Massachusetts. Despite the distance, the father maintained contact with the child’s schools and medical providers. From 2008 to 2013, the child spent most of his summers with the father in Georgia. In 2013, the mother resided […]