Maryland Family Law Maryland family law opinions and commentary

CINA — Termination of parental rights — Aggressive and criminal conduct On August 1, 2019, the Circuit Court for Harford County granted guardianship of one-year-old O. to the Harford County Department of Social Services, with the right to consent to ...

CINA — Neglect — Sufficiency of the evidence In an order dated May 16, 2019, and docketed on May 20, 2019, the Circuit Court for Frederick County, sitting as a juvenile court, found that 11-year-old A. was a child in ...

CINA — Ineffective assistance of counsel — Failure to raise due process concerns Following the adjudicatory and dispositional hearings, the Circuit Court for Cecil County, sitting as a juvenile court, found J.R.1 to be a Child in Need of Assistance ...

CINA — Termination of parental rights — Reasonable efforts at reunification This appeal arises after the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, in a February 8, 2019 Opinion and Order, terminated the parental rights of appellant, R.C. (“Mother”), in her three ...

CINA — Award to maternal grandparents — Factual findings Sitting as a juvenile court, the Circuit Court for Baltimore County ordered custody and guardianship of K.W., Jr. (“K.W.”)—who had previously been found to be a Child in Need of Assistance ...

CINA — Mother’s 5th Amendment privilege — Negative inference This appeal arises from an order of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, sitting as a juvenile court, finding respondent child T.G. to be a Child in Need of Assistance (“CINA”)1 ...

CINA — No-contact order — Best interests of children The Baltimore County Department of Social Services (the “Department”) filed, in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, petitions on behalf of five children, alleging that they were children in need of ...

CINA — Change in permanency plan — Adoption by non-relative This appeal arises from an order of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, sitting as a juvenile court, modifying the permanency plan for respondent child V.S. in a CINA ...

Child custody — Special Immigrant Juvenile status — Neglect In making findings on appellant/guardian’s effort to obtain Special Immigrant Juvenile (“SIJ”) status for a minor, the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County concluded that it was not in the minor ...

CINA — Sufficiency of the evidence — Abuse or neglect The Circuit Court for Montgomery County, sitting as a juvenile court, determined that siblings T.S. and Z.S. each was a Child in Need of Assistance (“CINA”), 1 and committed both ...