DHS Scolded For Handling Of Parental Rights

By Rob Moritz THE MORNING NEWS LITTLE ROCK -- The state Court of Appeals ordered a new hearing Wednesday in a Crawford County court decision to terminate a man's parental rights and scolded the state Department of Human Services for its handling of the case. "It is troubling enough whenever a child has been neglected by a parent," the court said in the ruling. "Here, the governmental agency responsible for helping stabilize the family by providing support services to the child and parent refused to even involve the (father) until it sought to terminate his parental rights, and never included (the father) in any plan concerning his daughters care." "We expect that the refusal by DHS to perform its duties and the manifestly invalid reason for that nonperformance will be rectified on remand," Judge Wendell Griffen wrote. A DHS... [read full story]