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Shaken Baby Syndrome Evidence Questioned

Below is the link to an interesting article on "abusive head trauma", formerly known as "Shaken Baby Syndrome". Has medicine finally discovered the err of its ways? And, if so, what then will become of the countless lives ruined by the misinformation, the countless children adopted out from underneath the accused parents, the parents jailed…

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Evidence for Family Lawyers CLE

On August 13, 2012, Allison C. Williams will be presenting with a panel of experienced Family Law judges and attorneys on Evidence Issues in the Family Part at CLEfest.  Allison will focus her presentation on Evidence Issues in DYFS proceedings. Topics will include corroboration of abuse allegations, admissibility of business records, internal hearsay within hearsay…

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DYFS Substantiations of Child Abuse - The Role of Corroboration

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. …

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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…

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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In a recent unpublished decision, New Jersey Div.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…

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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…

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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…

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