In DYFS v. T.L. A-0506-11T2, the Appellate Division entered several rulings about corroboration of children’s statements of prior abuse. The Court noted that N.J.S.A. 9:6-8.46(a)(4) exists to alleviate the necessity of having children unnecessarily relive unpleasant experiences by being required to testify when other reliable evidence will suffice to prove the truth of the matter. …
Read More »Blog
DYFS Request for Services: Treatment or Entrapment
At the inception of every DYFS case, the agency will tell the parent to engage in “services” designed to remediate the condition that led to DYFS involvement. Services cannot be ordered until a court, by way of Stipulation or Fact Finding trial, makes a finding against the parent. However, parents are often urged by the…
Read More »DYFS Cases Cannot Continue when the Court finds No Abuse or Neglect, Absent Parental Unfitness
The Appellate Division has now disapproved of the common practice of trial Courts keeping DYFS cases open for “monitoring”, when the Court finds that DYFS did NOT prove abuse or neglect. In DYFS v. T.S, the Court held that trial Courts cannot simply infer from testimony at the Fact Finding hearing that there is a…
Read More »No “Restraints” Allowed with Orders to Investigate
In a recent unpublished decision, New Jersey Div. of Youth and Fam. Svcs. v. L.C., DYFS conceded that where the agency seeks to impose restraints upon parental access, parents are entitled to be represented by counsel. Further, DYFS acknowledged that it cannot secure an “Order to Investigate” with restraints – i.e., supervised parenting time, psychological…
Read More »Sleeping Infact on Rail-Less Bed Near Radiator = Gross Neglect
On May 10, 2011, in New Jersey Div. of Youth and Family Servs v. A.R., the Appellate Division reversed a trial Court’s finding that the act of leaving a 10 month old child on a rail-less bed with a sleeping 10 year old child, near a hot radiator, constitutes mere simple negligence. The Appellate Division…
Read More »To Equal Child Abuse, “Excessive Corporal Punishment” must be … well… Excessive!
On June 2, 2010, the Appellate Division issued its first published decision on the issue of what constitutes “excessive” corporal punishment. In DYFS v. K.A., the Court noted the “general proposition that a parent may inflict moderate correction such as is reasonable under the circumstances”. In determining what is reasonable, the Appellate Division cited to…
Read More »New Jersey Supreme Court issues Pro-DYFS Ruling
On March 31, 2010, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued its ruling in Division v. M.C. III., reversing the Appellate Division’s pro-defense ruling in October 2008 that certain hearsay documents are not permissible to be entered into evidence in DYFS matters. The high Court noted that they cannot tell from the trial record whether or…
Read More »Wounded Innocents: The Real Victims of the War Against Child Abuse by Richard Wexler
“The war against child abuse has become a war against children,” charges Wexler, a reporter for the Albany, N.Y., Times Union , in a well-argued, in-depth study of the “child protection system” in the U.S. and the politics that enmesh it. He maintains that even more alarming than the alleged abuses suffered by children at…
Read More »Allison C. Williams becomes the first African American Certified Matrimonial Law Attorney
In between litigating on behalf of good people, parents wrongfully and aggressively accused by the Division of Youth and Family Services of abuse and/or neglect, I somehow found the time to become Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney. I am now the youngest attorney in the State, as…
Read More »Scope of Caseworker Testimony in DYFS Trials
By: Allison C. Williams, Esq. Unlike the traditional civil trial, DYFS cases are often “streamlined” because of the Division’s ability to enter documents generated by agency personnel into evidence without the formality required by the New Jersey Rules of Evidence. The authority for this guiding principle can be found in the Rules of Court, specifically…
Read More »