California Supreme Court rules in case of injured infant and distraught parents
An employer or agency has no legal requirement to search California’s Child Abuse Central Index (CACI), but can choose to do so as a matter of internal policy, the Supreme Court of California said in a recent case.
The employer or agency is not barred from hiring or granting a license to someone listed in the CACI but may hesitate from doing so, the court added.
In 2019, the parents of an infant son became concerned about his excessive crying. They took the baby to the hospital. A chest X-ray showed that the child had a rib fracture that the parents could not explain.
The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services filed a dependency petition, which alleged that the infant and his 5-year-old sister were at risk of neglect.
The juvenile court found that it had jurisdiction over the son under the Welfare and Institutions Code. It held that the baby suffered or was at a substantial risk of suffering serious physical harm or illness due to his parent’s or guardian’s failure or inability to adequately supervise or protect him.
The parents appealed and challenged the jurisdictional finding. The juvenile court terminated its jurisdiction. It determined that the parents complied with their case plan and that the child was no longer at risk.
The father argued that, even though the juvenile court terminated its jurisdiction, the appeal was not moot. This was because the jurisdictional...
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