Petition for Dependency and Neglect in Tennessee
There are unfortunate circumstances surrounding minor children that may require their removal from custodial parents or guardians. Any party with knowledge of the facts or the Tennessee Department of Children’s services may petition a juvenile court where which the minor children are residents or are located at time of filing the petition. In Tennessee, the Juvenile Court will have exclusive original jurisdiction in proceedings in which a child is “alleged” to be Dependent and Neglected.
The Department of Children’s Services is required by law to file a petition to terminate parental rights in cases that involve severe abuse of a child or of a child’s siblings; a child who is in foster care for 15 of the previous 22 months; or an abandoned child who is less than a year old.
Dependency and Neglect by statute is defined as:
(A) Who is without a parent, guardian or legal custodian;
(B) Whose parent, guardian or person with whom the child lives, by reason of cruelty, mental incapacity, immorality or depravity is unfit to properly care for such child;
(C) Who is under unlawful or improper care, supervision, custody or restraint by any person, corporation, agency, association, institution, society or other organization or who is unlawfully kept out of school;
(D) Whose parent, guardian or custodian neglects or refuses to provide necessary medical, surgical, institutional or hospital care for such child;
(E) Who, because of lack of proper supervision, is found in any place the existence of which is in violation of law;
(F) Who is in such condition of want or suffering or is under such improper guardianship or control as to injure or endanger the morals or health of such child or others;
(G) Who is suffering from abuse or neglect;
(H) Who has been in the care and control of one (1) or more agency or person not related to such child by blood or marriage for a continuous period of six (6) months or longer in the absence of a power of attorney or court order, and such person or agency has not initiated judicial proceedings seeking either legal custody or adoption of the child; or
(I) Who is or has been allowed, encouraged or permitted to engage in prostitution or obscene or pornographic photographing, filming, posing, or similar activity and whose parent, guardian or other custodian neglects or refuses to protect such child from further such activity;
(J) (i) Who has willfully been left in the sole financial care and sole physical care of a related caregiver for not less than eighteen (18) consecutive months by the child’s parent, parents or legal custodian to the related caregiver, and the child will suffer substantial harm if removed from the continuous care of such relative;
(ii) For the purposes of this subdivision (b)(12)(J), a related caregiver shall include the child’s biological, step or legal grandparent, great grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle or any other person who is legally or biologically related to the child;
(iii) For the purposes of this subdivision (b)(12)(J), a child willfully left with a related caregiver as defined in subdivision (b)(12)(J)(ii) because of the parent’s military service shall not be subject to action pursuant to § 37-1-183;
The petitioner alleging that a minor child is dependent and neglected must prove the same by clear and convincing evidence which is a higher standard than most civil cases. After a first initial appearance before the Court, the Court will schedule a preliminary hearing. The petitioner will proceed through an adjudication phase on the merits of the allegations. If the Court finds that the children are in fact dependent and neglected then the Petition goes into disposition phase where Court will determine appropriate custodial and visitation arrangements.
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