In re Olivia W.

Syllabus

The respondent parents appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court adjudicating their minor child, O, to be neglected and commit- ting her to the custody of the petitioner, the Commissioner of Children and Families. The Department of Children and Families received a report alleging emotional abuse and maltreatment of O by the respondent father, which was submitted after O's school had discovered an elec- tronic document written by O indicating that the father had abused her. Approximately two weeks later, in November, 2021, while the first report was being investigated by the department, the department received a second report alleging abuse of O by the father, which indicated that the father had dropped O off at the emergency department of a local children's hospital for concerns of her mental health and behavior. The report further indicated that O had told hospital staff that the physical injuries that she had sustained, from her head down to her left shin, had been inflicted by the father and that there had been physical altercations going on for a while between herself and the father. O was initially released from the children's hospital into the respondent mother's care, but the following day, after a safety assessment, the department deter- mined that O's situation was unsafe and invoked a ninety-six hour hold on O. The petitioner subsequently applied for an ex parte order of temporary custody, which was granted by the court and sustained by the agreement of the parties. The petitioner filed a neglect petition on the grounds that O was being denied proper care and attention, physically, educationally, emotionally, or morally, or permitted to live under condi- tions, circumstances, or associations injurious to her well-being. In May, 2022, O was admitted to the adolescent unit of another hospital, and she remained in that hospital's care for the duration of the trial on the neglect petition, which spanned from May, 2022, through the middle of D