IN RE TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS TO JM, Wis: Court of Appeals, 4th Dist. 2014

Student name: Ashley Welke Link for opinion: http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10786677660891157270&q=Wisconsin+child+visitation+case&hl=en&as_sdt=4,50&as_ylo=2014 Title: IN RE TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS TO JM, Wis: Court of Appeals, 4th Dist. 2014 After a hearing disputing termination of Shannon’s parental rights to her two children (A.M. and T.M.), Portage County Department of Health and Human Services (the Department) appeals orders of the circuit court setting aside jury verdicts on this case. In January of 2014, the Department asked for petitions that would involuntarily end Shannon’s parental rights to her children, A.M. and T.M. These petitions contained three grounds, child abandonment, child in protection and services (CHIPS), and continuing denial of periods of physical placement or visitation. The Circuit Court dismissed the third ground, containing denial of periods of physical placement or visitation, because Shannon was already denied physical placement and visitation in September of 2012. However, the September court order failed to follow the rules on the return requirements under Wisconsin Statutes. In March of 2014 the termination proceeding was held, and the jury decided that the Department proved the remaining two grounds for termination of Shannon’s parental rights. Shannon requested the circuit court judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The court granted her request based on the fact that the jury’s verdicts were tainted with incorrect entries from the September 2012 dispositional orders. In April of 2014, Shannon requested the circuit court remove the termination of parental rights because of the court’s dismissal of the verdicts of the jury. The court agreed to her request, and in May of 2014 orders were placed remembering the faulty verdicts and Shannon was given back her parental rights. The Department appeals.