In re Loyal H.

Syllabus

The respondent father appealed from the trial court's judgments adjudicating his four minor children neglected. The father claimed that the evidence was insufficient to support the court's findings of neglect. Held: The trial court did not improperly deny the respondent father's motions to strike the neglect petitions filed by the petitioner, the Commissioner of Children and Families, as to two of his children, as his claim that those peti- tions did not allege any abuse was belied by the amended neglect petitions the petitioner had filed, which alleged that those two children were being permitted to live under circumstances that were injurious to their well- being, and, even if those two children had not been abused themselves, the allegations of physical abuse and violence on the part of the father and the paternal grandmother as to the other two children were sufficient to find that all of the children were living under circumstances that were injurious to their well-being. The respondent father's challenge to the trial court's determination that the children were neglected was unavailing, as the evidence showed that three of the children had scars that were indicative of abuse, and the court credited one of the children's statements to the police that she had been abused and gave weight to the paternal grandmother's concession that \kids should be beaten; that's the way we do it.\ Moreover, even if the respondent father's assertions that he had engaged in and benefited from services were true, along with his claims that one of the children bore no bruises and that all of the children were visible in the community, that did not negate the court's findings of physical abuse. Argued January 14—officially released March 16, 2026