M.S. v. State Dept. of Human Resources

On December 8, 1995, LaCretia Washington, a social worker with the Jefferson County Department of Human Resources (DHR), filed a complaint in the Jefferson County Juvenile Court alleging that V.S., a two-year-old female, was a dependent child in need of care and supervision, because, she said, the minor child's father had allegedly put beer in [681 So2d Page 634] the child's bottle. DHR petitioned the trial court for custody of the minor child. On December 16, 1995, the father, M.S., and the mother, K.S., were served with a copy of the summons and complaint and were ordered to appear at a hearing set for January 22, 1996. At the hearing, the trial court instructed DHR to conduct a home study of the parents and to file a report with the court. The case was twice set for hearing, but on both occasions the hearing date was continued. On March 19, 1996, the trial court set a May 6, 1996, hearing date and ordered the clerk of the court to notify all parties and attorneys of that date. On March 21, 1996, the clerk mailed notices of the hearing date to the parents; however, those notices were returned as undeliverable. The clerk did not mail a notice to the parents' attorney. The trial court proceeded with the hearing on May 6, 1996; neither the parents nor their attorney was present at the hearing. During the hearing, DHR and the guardian ad litem for the minor child stipulated that the minor child was a dependent child. That same day, the trial court entered an order finding the minor child to be dependent and placing the ""care, custody, and control"" of the minor child with the maternal grandmother. The trial court further ordered the parents to attend, among other things, parenting skills classes. The trial court also restrained the father from contacting the maternal grandmother or the minor child and restricted the father's visitation with the minor child to the DHR office under DHR's supervision.