New Jersey Division of Youth & Family Services v. B.M. & T.B.

993 A.2d 258, 413 N.J. Super. 118, 2010 N.J. Super. LEXIS 73
CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedApril 29, 2010
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 993 A.2d 258 (New Jersey Division of Youth & Family Services v. B.M. & T.B.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
New Jersey Division of Youth & Family Services v. B.M. & T.B., 993 A.2d 258, 413 N.J. Super. 118, 2010 N.J. Super. LEXIS 73 (N.J. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

SKILLMAN, P.J.A.D.

The most significant issue presented by this consolidated appeal from a judgment terminating parental rights is whether the part of a medical report containing a doctor’s expert opinion was properly admitted into evidence under Rule 5:12-4(d). We conclude for the reasons set forth in section III of this opinion that such a report constitutes inadmissible hearsay unless the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) establishes all the prerequisites of N.J.R.E. 803(c)(6) for its admission as a business record and that DYFS failed to establish those prerequisites regarding the medical report introduced into evidence in this case. We also conclude for the reasons set forth in section II of this opinion that DYFS’s failure to provide that report to appellants or to give them any other notice before trial that DYFS was alleging that their child was born with fetal alcohol syndrome constituted a denial of [123]*123due process, which requires a reversal of the judgment terminating parental rights.

I.

The ease involves parental rights to a baby boy, Z.B., who was born on March 9, 2006. The appellants are T.B., who is Z.B.’s mother, and B.M., who is Z.B.’s father.

The hospital discharge summary reported that a “urine toxicology” test performed on Z.B. was “positive for cocaine.” However, the discharge summary also reported that Z.B.’s “physical findings were normal for term newborn baby and vital signs were stable.” There is no indication Z.B. exhibited any withdrawal symptoms at birth as a result of the presence of cocaine in his system.

T.B. had nine other children before giving birth to Z.B., and DYFS has had substantial involvement with her over a period of close to twenty years, which has resulted in a series of allegations of neglect of her children. T.B.’s dependency upon cocaine has been a major contributing cause of that neglect. None of T.B.’s other children are in her custody. T.B.’s relatives have raised those other children and for this reason DYFS has not previously brought an action against her for the termination of parental rights.

Before the proceedings relating to Z.B., DYFS had had only limited involvement with B.M. However, B.M. fathered four of T.B.’s other children, two of whom were born addicted to cocaine, and never actively undertook to serve the role of caretaker for any of those children. B.M. also apparently resided with T.B. during the course of her pregnancy with Z.B.

Based on Z.B.’s positive test for the presence of cocaine, T.B.’s history of drug abuse, and T.B.’s inability to care for her other children, DYFS took custody of Z.B. before his discharge from the hospital and filed an action seeking care, custody, and supervision. The trial court granted DYFS’s application for custody of Z.B., who was placed in foster care with the ex-wife of T.B.’s cousin. [124]*124Z.B. has remained in the custody of this foster parent, who wishes to adopt him, for more than three years.

In October 2007, DYFS filed a complaint for the termination of T.B.’s and B.M.’s parental rights to Z.B. The case was tried over three days in May 2009, which resulted in the judgment terminating parental rights that is the subject of this appeal.

Because we conclude the trial court committed reversible error in admitting a medical report which concluded Z.B. exhibits symptoms “consistent with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder” and relying upon this report to find that DYFS had established grounds for the termination of parental rights, it is only necessary to summarize the portions of the trial record relating to the admission into evidence of this report.

This report, by Dr. Uday Mehta of Children’s Specialized Hospital, first surfaced on the first day of trial. During the direct examination of a DYFS case worker, the following colloquy occurred:

Q. And how do you know about [Z.B.’s] behavioral issues; is it just through [Z.B.’s foster mother] or have you had an opportunity to speak with [Z.B.’s] doctor?
A. Yes. I—I have a note that I just received that said that he—he is diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome, something of that nature.
Q. And you just received that from whom?
A. Dr. Mehta.
THE COURT: Where is Dr. Mehta from?
THE WITNESS: She runs Specialized Hospital.
THE COURT: When did you get that?
THE WITNESS: I got it today.
[Counsel for B.M.]: Judge, we haven’t seen it.
THE COURT: I bet you haven’t.
[Counsel for T.B.]: That’s correct.
THE COURT: I bet you, [counsel for B.M.], the deputy hasn’t seen it, but—
[Counsel for DYFS]: I just received—
THE COURT:—I’m not a betting man. So just—
[Counsel for B.M.]: She’s about to reference that she just got it, I think, Judge.

There was no further discussion of the report during the first day of trial.

[125]*125The trial court again raised the issue of Dr. Mehta’s diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome in its questioning of B.M.’s psychological expert during the second day of trial, stating to the expert:

I don’t want to so to speak spring it on you because we just got it yesterday----
[W]e have I believe a validation of not just a cocaine birth but fetal alcohol syndrome is operating on this child from what we read of Dr. Mehta’s report.

The expert responded:

The information you’re giving now about the fetal alcohol syndrome kind of brings a greater depth to some of what I have observed and fits in certainly concurrently with what I’m finding and reinforces that issue____

The Law Guardian returned to the subject of fetal alcohol syndrome during her cross-examination of B.M.’s psychological expert:

Q. Well, if I were to tell you that the diagnosis was made by the fetal—and the medication prescribed by the fetal alcoholic syndrome diagnostic center of Children’s Specialized Hospital, would that in anyway change your answer?
A. No. In fact, it raises more questions. If—if they’re saying the child by nature, if you’re—because it was made by fetal alcohol syndrome unit and with the information I just received an hour or so ago from the Judge, wasn’t this information disseminated to the other experts and all the other people involved in the ease? Where was the diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome in the record? I didn’t see it.
So it brings up more questions because that certainly would be a primary diagnostic issue, if that was a valid diagnosis that you would have to have any future involvement of any care giver, any service provider, any evaluator of this child to have such information.

Dr. Mehta’s report was admitted into evidence at the close of DYFS’s case after the following rather obscure colloquy between the court and the counsel for B.M. and DYFS:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
993 A.2d 258, 413 N.J. Super. 118, 2010 N.J. Super. LEXIS 73, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-jersey-division-of-youth-family-services-v-bm-tb-njsuperctappdiv-2010.