In Re: V.C.-L., Appeal of: V.C.-L.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 17, 2023
Docket2332 EDA 2022
StatusUnpublished

This text of In Re: V.C.-L., Appeal of: V.C.-L. (In Re: V.C.-L., Appeal of: V.C.-L.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re: V.C.-L., Appeal of: V.C.-L., (Pa. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

J-A28033-22

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

IN RE: V.C.-L., A MINOR : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : APPEAL OF: V.C.-L. : : : : : : No. 2332 EDA 2022

Appeal from the Order Entered August 8, 2022 In the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County Juvenile Division at No(s): CP-46-DP-0000092-2022

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J., LAZARUS, J., and SULLIVAN, J.

MEMORANDUM BY SULLIVAN, J.: FILED MARCH 17, 2023

V.C.-L. (“Child”), via her guardian ad litem (“GAL”), appeals from the

trial court’s order adjudicating her dependent, insofar as the order does not

include a finding of child abuse, perpetrated by her parents, K.L.-C. (“Mother”)

and A.C.-V (“Father”), pursuant to the Child Protective Services Law

(“CPSL”).1 Following our careful review, we vacate and remand with

instructions.

The trial court set forth the following factual and procedural history:

This case was initiated via a [d]ependency [p]etition filed by the Montgomery County Office of Children and Youth (“OCY”) on June 14, 2022, seeking that [Child] be adjudicated dependent. An [a]mended [d]ependency [p]etition was filed by OCY on July 20, 2022, which added an allegation of child abuse against both [Mother and Father]. A hearing was held before the [trial court]

____________________________________________

1 See 23 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 6301-6387. J-A28033-22

on August 1, 2022, with th[e] court’s [o]rder of [a]djudication following on August 8, 2022.

On February 8, 2022, Mother and Father . . . brought the then 5-month-old [C]hild to the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania [(“CHOP”)], King of Prussia Campus. [Child] was brought in seeking medical care for fussiness and issues related to her legs. A medical evaluation was performed and [Child] received a full-body x-ray, also known as a skeletal survey. At the time of this initial evaluation, the medical professionals were unable to determine the cause of the original complaint. On February 11, 2022, [Child] received an MRI to further investigate the cause of her fussiness and pain. The MRI showed abnormalities in [Child’s] legs, and she was started on antibiotics for what was believed to be a bone infection. A second MRI was done on February 16, 2022, which noted abnormalities in the right femur, thigh bone, left tibia, and shin bone, ruling out the bone infection. Additional x-rays of [Child’s] legs were taken on February 18, 2022. These images showed healing fractures in the right femur and left tibia.

. . . Kristin Fortin, [M.D.], a physician at [CHOP] . . . testified at the August 1, 2022, hearing as an expert on behalf of OCY. The doctor was consulted on the case after the February 18, 2022[] x- ray images were taken. [Dr.] Fortin indicated in her testimony that the x-rays revealed an oblique fracture in the right femur and left tibia. Although not initially visible, Dr. Fortin noted that once the doctors saw evidence of the fractures on the MRI taken February 18, 2022, signs of these fractures were also found visible when looking back at the February 8, 2022, x-ray images. On February 18, 2022, a referral was made to OCY regarding [Child], which triggered the eventual filing of the original [d]ependency [p]etition on June 4, 2022.

[Dr. Fortin’s testimony established the following: Child suffered a broken right femur (thigh bone) and a broken left tibia (shin bone). See N.T., 8/1/22, at 6, 12. The fractures were oblique (i.e., at an angle, as opposed to transverse, which would be straight across the bone). See id. at 16. An oblique fracture can occur if there is “torsion or twisting around the long access of the bone,” or if there is a fall that involves twisting. See id. at 17. While an older child, capable of walking, could suffer a “non[-]displaced fracture[] from [an] accident that they would cause themselves,” Child was too young to be walking, thus, it was unlikely that she sustained oblique fractures resulting from a

-2- J-A28033-22

fall on her own. See id. at 17-19. Child’s injuries similarly could not be explained by a fall off a bed, because, with “an infant[,] most commonly[,] they hit their head[,] and we see like a skull fracture with that type of mechanism. It would need to be a mechanism where it was landing on the leg and turning over[,] but [that] wouldn’t explain fractures to both legs.” Id. at 19.]

[Father had previously reported that the night before he and Mother brought Child to CHOP, he had been sitting with Child on a bed while Mother was in the shower; Child was sitting up on the bed with her legs crossed, and then she fell all the way forward, and Father purported to hear a “crack,” after which Child began abnormally crying. See id. at 14. Dr. Fortin opined that, even given Father’s explanation for how the injuries occurred, there was no “definite accident that could explain everything,” which was why she suspected physical abuse had occurred. See id. at 31. Mother and Father also indicated Child had participated in physical therapy—for torticollis, i.e., difficulty moving her neck— the day before they brought her to CHOP. See id. at 14, 36, 82; still, Dr. Fortin opined, generally there was no “accidental explanation” for Child’s injuries, and, more specifically, she would not expect Child’s physical therapy to result in these fractures. See id. at 39, 48. Child did not have a bone infection, vitamin D deficiency, or any genetic issues known to result in weak bones. See id. at 10, 22, 23. Child does have a genetic variant of “unknown significance”; however, it does not play a role in bone development or bone health, but relates to an issue with the immune system which makes infections more likely. See N.T., 8/1/22, at 23-24. The hospital’s rheumatology team tested Child’s blood because, if her genetic variant were causing problems with her immune system, certain blood tests would reflect an abnormality; however, Child’s blood tests came back normal. See id. at 24.]

Upon conclusion of the one-day hearing before the [trial court], an [o]rder . . . was entered adjudicating [Child] dependent, with Mother and Father retaining legal and physical custody. [The trial court premised its dependency adjudication on “the fact that the evidence that was presented[,] regarding the physical injuries[, was they] would not ordinarily be sustained but for the action or inaction of the parents[,] and [there was] really no plausible explanation on how those injuries occurred.” N.T., 8/8/22, at 3.] Th[e] court made the additional finding that [Child] would benefit from the services associated with an adjudication of

-3- J-A28033-22

dependency. Th[e] court did not find [Child] to be a victim of child abuse.

[Child], through her [GAL], filed the instant appeal . . .. As required, [Child] filed the 1925(b) concise statement contemporaneous with the appeal.

Trial Court Opinion, 9/19/22, at 2-4 (internal citations to the record omitted).2

The trial court likewise complied with Pa.R.A.P. 1925.

Child raises the following issues for our review:

1. Did the lower court err in failing to make a finding of child abuse against [M]other and [F]ather[,] where the expert medical testimony presented at the dependency hearing ruled out any underlying medical condition as the cause of . . . [C]hild’s injuries, no accident was reported, and [M]other and [F]ather presented no evidence to rebut the presumption against them of child abuse under 23 Pa.C.S.[A.] § 6381(d)?

2.

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Bluebook (online)
In Re: V.C.-L., Appeal of: V.C.-L., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-vc-l-appeal-of-vc-l-pasuperct-2023.