In re L.B.
In March 2012, L. B. (L.), the three-year old daughter of appellant Blake B. (Father) was removed from his home by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) due to the child’s report that she had been repeatedly hit by the paternal grandmother. At the time, Father and the child’s mother, Rae H. (Mother), were separated and engaged in a dispute over custody of L. in family court. DCFS’s investigation revealed a lengthy history of domestic violence in which both Father and Mother initiated physical violence, including an incident in December 2011, when L. incurred scratches while the parents were physically fighting over her.
At the detention hearing, L. was placed with Mother, who at that time was living in the home of the maternal grandmother with two other children, L.’s half-siblings. Mother subsequently submitted to jurisdiction. Father contested, but at the April 2012 jurisdictional/dispositional hearing, the court found true that the couple had a history of engaging in domestic violence, including the incident in December 2011 when L. was injured, and that the parents failed to protect the child from the paternal grandmother, who had hit the girl with a broom.
Comments on In re L.B.