SUMMARY: Preadjudication and postadjudication detention hearings are dispositional in nature and strict rules of evidence are not applied to dispositional hearings, thus allowing caseworker hearsay testimony to be admitted.
Gloria, 12 years of age, entered foster care in March 1993. Parental rights of the natural mother had been previously terminated. Petition to terminate appellant’s (father) parental rights was filed on July 11, 1997. At the detention hearing, evidence was introduced of the paternity decree finding appellant to be the father of Gloria and finding that Gloria was conceived when her mother was 12 years of age. Further evidence established that appellant had never requested visitation with Gloria or offered or paid any support and that Gloria expressed revulsion concerning appellant directed at his sexual congress with her mother when the mother was of a young age. The juvenile court granted the detention order, continuing Gloria’s placement with Health and Human Services. Appellant contends that the juvenile court erred.
The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld the detention order. On the issue of whether the court should have considered the caseworker’s testimony because it was based on hearsay evidence, the court established that both preadjudication and postadjudication detention hearings are dispositional in nature and strict rules of evidence are not applied to dispositional hearings, thus allowing the caseworker’s testimony. Appellant also argued that the State did not comply with § 43-1315, because the State failed to offer evidence that reasonable efforts had been made to return Gloria to her home or that placing Gloria in appellant’s home would be contrary to her welfare. The court considered whether §43-1315 applies to all dispositional orders and conducted a statutory interpretation analysis. After considering the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute, the court established that § 43-1315 merely articulates the criteria and requirements to be considered by a court when determining whether a foster care arrangement is appropriate. Thus, the court concluded that § 43-1315 applies to foster care status review hearings only and not to all hearings dispositional in nature.