DHHS made reasonable efforts to reunify the respondent-parents with their child despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic

The COA reversed and remanded the Trial Court’s ruling that a court-ordered independent medical examination (“IME”) was necessary to look for evidence of sexual assault of a minor.

The Michigan Supreme Court has voided the COA published decision in In re BMGZ, Minor, a stepparent adoption case where the plaintiffs wanted SIJ status for the minor child.

The trial court in this adoption case improperly denied the petitioners’ motion for discovery and wrongly quashed subpoenas that were issued to the DHHS and Bethany Christian Services.

The two minor children of an immigrant who were granted asylum in the United States must be returned to their father in Venezuela, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in a 2-1 decision.

The trial court in this child-protective proceeding correctly placed the mother’s children under its jurisdiction because “some efforts” were made by DHHS to prevent removal of the children.

Even though the parties’ consent judgment of divorce included an offset provision, the defendant’s challenge to enforcing that provision is an improper collateral attack.

In this divorce case, the COA adopted a new legal framework that “blends” the “contractual approach” and the “balancing approach” to determine the disposition of a frozen embryo.

The Supreme Court determined that reasonable efforts had not been made by the Department, as no service plan had been created to attempt to reunify the children with their mother.

The trial court in this child-welfare case did not make all the factual findings necessary to remove the minor child from her parents’ custody and, as a result, the removal order must be vacated.

The trial court’s decision to vacate the custody and parenting-time provisions in the parties’ divorce judgment must be reversed, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.

The Michigan COA has ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the appeal in a child-welfare case because trial counsel filed the appeal, and not the father whose parental rights were terminated.

The Michigan Supreme Court is currently considering a case involving the denial of a residential tenant’s request for a “reasonable accommodation”.

The COA vacated the trial court’s order terminating mother’s parental rights because mother’s drug use during pregnancy does not qualify as an aggravated circumstance.

The MI SCT is considering whether to hear the case of a mother whose parental rights were terminated after the trial court agreed with the petitioning agency that she had subjected her children to “aggravated circumstances”.

The Court of Appeals vacated the Trial Court’s order terminating mother’s parental rights because mother’s drug use during pregnancy does not qualify as an aggravated circumstance.