IN RE K.P. ET AL. - Articles

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IN RE K.P. ET AL.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on May 28, 2014

Court: TN Court of Appeals

Attorneys 1:

Robert M. Burts, Rutledge, Tennessee, for the appellant, R.P.

Attorneys 2:

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; and Leslie Curry, Assistant Attorney General, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.

Judge(s): SUSANO

This is a dependency and neglect case. R.P. (“Mother”) appeals the trial court’s finding that she severely abused her minor daughter, K.P. The Department of Children’s Services petitioned the juvenile court to declare K.P. and her sister, K.J. (collectively, “the Children”) dependent and neglected. Following a hearing, the juvenile court found 1 that the Children were dependent and neglected in the care of Mother and her then-boyfriend, B.J.2 The juvenile court further found that B.J. committed severe abuse against K.P.,3 but that Mother did not. DCS appealed to the trial court. Following an adjudicatory hearing, the trial court found, by clear and convincing evidence, (1) that the Children were dependent and neglected and (2) that Mother committed severe child abuse against K.P. in that she failed to protect K.P. from abuse at the hands of B.J. Mother appeals. We affirm.

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