SUMMARY: Affirming the juvenile court’s termination of parental rights, the Court held that the multiple rib fractures and two subdural hematomas of differing ages in the infant child which all would have required a significant amount of force to occur supported the factor required for 43-292(2) that “multiple injuries or other serious impairment of health have occurred which ordinarily would not occur in the absence of abuse or neglect.”
Justyce J., born August 11, 2006, was brought to the hospital by his mother, Dawn, on November 11, 2006, due to the child’s vomiting, fever, and low appetite. X rays revealed multiple rib fractures that were 14 to 21 days old and furthering testing showed previous hemorrhaging of the brain in two locations and the condition of rickets, a metabolic bone disease. A petition to terminate parental rights was filed on January 10, 2007 as to both parents.
At trial, doctors treating Justyce testified that rickets would likely not cause bone fractures, that there is no known connection between rib fractures and subdural hematoma, that the subdural hematomas were rare for such a young child, and that a significant amount of force would have had to been applied to cause the fractures and hematomas. Evidence ruled out the suggestion that another adult beside either parent may have caused the injury.
The Court of Appeals affirmed the juvenile court’s termination of parental rights under 43-292(2), substantial and continuous or repeated neglect and refusal to give the child necessary parental care or protection. In analyzing the two factors required under 43-292(2), (1) that a parent’s control over the child during the period of abuse, and (2) that multiple injuries or other serious impairment of health occurred which ordinarily would not have occurred absent abuse or neglect, the Court of Appeals held that the parents were Justyce’s sole caregivers during the time the injuries occurred, and that the injuries would not have happened absent abuse. In its analysis of best interests, the Court of Appeals held that the severity of the injuries and the failure of Dawn to protect Justyce from those injuries established that termination was in Justyce’s best interests.