In Re: Adoption of L.J.B.

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L.J.B. was born to C.L.F. (Mother) and S.M.B. (Father) in August, 2001. The parents had been living together at the time she was born, but separated when L.J.B. was eleven months old. The Father got married the next year, and filed a complaint with the court seeking increased custody of L.J.B. The relationship between Father and Mother deteriorated once the custody proceedings got started. The Father became threatening and abusive towards the Mother. On approximately eight separate occasions over a three year span, the Father took L.J.B. to the emergency room claiming that she had been sexually abused by the Mother. In each visit to the hospital, the child was subjected to intrusive pelvic exams and pelvic cleaning. None of the exams revealed any evidence of sexual or physical abuse. After a January, 2006 exam, a state caseworker sent a memorandum to the judge overseeing the parentsâ custody case threatening to open an abuse investigation if the Father continued to have L.J.B. âunnecessarilyâ examined or cleaned. Notwithstanding the caseworkerâs concerns over the Fatherâs conduct, the custody court held a hearing concerning the Fatherâs petition for primary physical custody over L.J.B. While psychological evaluations of the parents and child and the custody hearing were still pending, the Mother abruptly dropped off L.J.B. with their Father and moved to Tennessee. She would later explain that she felt she had no choice but to give up on the custody battle to protect L.J.B. from being subjected to additional pelvic exams. Upon the Motherâs relocation, the custody court viewed the litigation over primary physical custody as moot, and granted the Father sole physical custody of L.J.B. The custody judge voiced his disgust over what he viewed as the Motherâs abandonment of L.J.B., and went so far as to suggest that the Father seek to have motherâs parental rights terminated. At the termination hearing, the Mother testified about the pelvic exams and that the custody court refused to put a stop to them. She testified why she left the state as the only way to save L.J.B. from the exams. The Father and his wife denied any wrongdoing. The court terminated the Motherâs parental rights. The Mother appealed to the Superior Court, contending that the termination court erred in finding the Father proved by clear and convincing evidence that her parental rights should have been terminated. The Superior Court affirmed the termination. The Mother petitioned the Supreme Court for an allowance of appeal. The Supreme Court granted the Mother an appeal, finding that the judges in the lower courtsâ âclear antagonism towards Mother [was] evident from the record.â The Court held that the petition to terminate Motherâs parental rights should be dismissed, and that the judges that tried the custody and termination hearings should be recused from further proceedings.