Held:

Affirmed

There is a dissent

in part by Collins, J.

Facts: Father appeals adjudication and disposition orders concluding his infant is an abused juvenile and continuing custody with DSS. A report was first made to DSS when the three-month-old child was brought to a hospital and diagnosed with nonaccidental trauma including several rib fractures, a tibia fracture, and bruises on her chest and back which appeared to be three weeks old. Upon investigation, DSS learned of a history of domestic violence between Mother and Father. Mother, Father and the infant lived in the home of the maternal grandparents where weeks prior, maternal grandfather called the police after Father allegedly assaulted Mother while Father was holding the child. Prior to the medical examination Mother and Father denied the child had any injuries, and after the child’s diagnoses and findings were made, Mother and Father provided no further explanation as to the cause of the injuries other than offering the possibility of injury while the child was being passed around to guests at a recent party. Mother and Father signed a temporary safety placement (TSP) with the paternal grandmother where the parents were to have no unsupervised contact with the child. A follow-up exam ten days later found new injuries to the child including an unexplained subconjunctival hemorrhage in her eye and a new, unexplained fracture to another rib. Mother and Father entered into a second TSP with the paternal aunt where the parents were again to have no unsupervised contact with the child. Twenty days later a follow-up medical exam of the infant found new unexplained or poorly explained bruising to the child’s shoulder, thigh, and back. Mother and Father admitted to several visits with the child. The paternal aunt stated that the injuries occurred when the child slipped from her hands during a sink bath and that it was possible her one-year-old bit the infant. The paternal aunt also stated Mother’s visits were so frequent and long that there were brief periods when she could not supervise the visits. At this time, the maternal grandmother reported an incident that occurred prior to the child’s second medical exam where Mother and Father took the child to a bedroom alone in her home for thirty minutes, she heard a physical struggle, Father left to get the child medication, returned to the bedroom and locked the door. DSS ultimately filed the petition, obtained nonsecure custody, and the child was adjudicated abused and neglected. Father challenges the abuse adjudication and argues the trial court’s findings of fact do not support the inference that the respondent parents inflicted or allowed to be inflicted the child’s injuries.
Appellate courts review an adjudication of abuse “to determine whether the findings of fact are supported by ‘clear and convincing evidence[,]” and whether the trial court’s conclusions “are properly supported by those findings of fact.” Sl. Op. at 16 (citation omitted). Unchallenged findings are binding on appeal. Conclusions of law are reviewed de novo. Father did not challenge any findings of fact on appeal and therefore they are binding.
An abused juvenile is one whose parent “ ‘(a) inflicts or allows to be inflicted upon the juvenile serious physical injury by other than accidental means’ or ‘(b) creates or allows to be created a substantial risk of serious physical injury to the juvenile by other than accidental means.’ ” Sl. Op. at 17, citing G.S. 7B-101(1). Appellate courts have upheld abuse adjudications where a child suffered unexplained, non-accidental injuries and “clear and convincing evidence supported the inference that the respondent-parents inflicted the child’s injuries or allowed them to be inflicted.” Sl. Op. at 17 (citation omitted). An adjudication of a child as abused does not concern the fault of the parent, only the status of the child. Trial courts have discretion in determining a child’s risk of harm based on the child’s age and living environment, and may look to the historical facts of the case when assessing the risk of future abuse in the case of young infants.
The trial court’s findings support the conclusion that the child is an abused juvenile. The unchallenged findings show the infant suffered unexplained, non-accidental injuries on three occasions for which the child could not have self-inflicted and for which the court found Mother and Father’s explanations not credible (e.g. the child was injured by guests while being handled at a party, was dropped in a sink, or scratched herself). Despite the absence of evidence that Mother and Father were the child’s exclusive caretakers when the injuries occurred, the trial court’s extensive findings support the inference Mother and Father inflicted the injuries or allowed them to be inflicted and that Mother and Father created or allowed to be created a substantial risk of serious physical injury to the child.

Category:

Abuse, Neglect, Dependency

Stage:

Adjudication

Topic:

Abuse

Tags:

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abuse