(Download) "Matter Of Appeal In Pima County Juvenile Severance Action No. S-120171" by Arizona Court of Appeals # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Matter Of Appeal In Pima County Juvenile Severance Action No. S-120171
- Author : Arizona Court of Appeals
- Release Date : January 30, 1995
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 75 KB
Description
The Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) sought to sever the parental rights of both the father and mother of A. and T. on numerous grounds, including chronic abuse of alcohol, dangerous drugs, and controlled substances and out-of-home placement as to each child. The juvenile court granted the severance petition as to the father but dismissed it as to the mother. Both the father and DES have appealed. In this published portion of our decision, we address only DES's contention that the juvenile court erred in finding that the mother's ingestion of alcohol during pregnancy and the father's allowing it could not, as a matter of law, be the basis for severance on the ground of abuse or neglect under A.R.S. § 8-533(B)(2). The remaining issues presented by DES and by the father's appeal are resolved in a contemporaneously filed memorandum decision. We publish only this portion because only this portion meets the standards for publication set forth in Rule 28(b), Ariz. R. Civ. App. P., 17B A.R.S. See Fenn v. Fenn , 174 Ariz. 84, 847 P.2d 129 (App. 1993). It is undisputed that A. and T. were harmed by the mother's ingestion of alcohol during pregnancy. T. suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome; A.'s condition is somewhat less severe but he also suffers some fetal alcohol effects. We agree with the juvenile court, however, that a "child" under the severance statute does not include a fetus. "Child" is defined in § 8-531(3) as "a person less than eighteen years of age." Although the statute does not define "person," we do not believe the legislature intended it to include a fetus for purposes of the severance statute. Consequently, the mother's ingestion of alcohol during pregnancy cannot be the basis for a finding of abuse under § 8-533(B)(2).
 "Matter Of Appeal In Pima County Juvenile Severance Action No. S-120171" by Arizona Court of Appeals # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}