In re Interest Andrew S.

Caselaw Number
14 Neb. App. 739
Filed On


SUMMARY: The argument that “voluntary relinquishment…is the opportunity to protect parental rights of afterborn children” is incompatible with the purpose and objectives of protecting children and ensuring the rights of all juveniles to care and protection contained within the Nebraska Juvenile Code, and therefore must be rejected.

The State took action to remove Andrew from his parents’ custody, one day after he was born, based on the parents’ previous voluntary relinquishment of their two older children and that the dangerous conditions which prompted the relinquishment of the two siblings had not been resolved. The parents’ appealed the court’s decision to grant the state temporary custody of Andrew stating that the court erred in finding that Andrew came under §43-247(3)(a).

The court framed the issue on appeal as “whether the juvenile court erred in taking jurisdiction of Andrew…based on the parents’ failure to correct the conditions which caused their two previous children to be removed from parental care.” The court concluded that the parents’ argument, that voluntary relinquishment would provide them with a “clean slate” with respect to “afterborn children,” was at odds with “larger purposes of the juvenile code,” namely “to promote and protect the juvenile’s best interests.” The fact that the parents’ had not taken steps to remedy the situation with respect to their other children convinced the court that Andrew was at risk. Thus, the court concluded that the juvenile court properly took jurisdiction over Andrew.