Matthew Coury
Professor Pruslow
Family Law
14 April 2021
Week 13 – Case Summaries
A. Tennessee Department of Children Services v. Tikindra G.
a. This case this deals with a mother being trialed for neglect and child abuse since she
was starving and depriving her premature children. Due to the starvation this caused
both of the children to be hospitalized. After looking at this case you realize that
certain aspects of abuse and neglect seem only to be applicable to only a limited
number of scenarios. When the mother was asked about the starvation, she said that
she was unknowing that she was hurting the kids at the same time, this was due to
the fact that the CCP labeled her as a borderline intellectual functioning. However,
this ended up being false, and they proved that she was knowing of her harm
towards the children since the hospital staff were informing her on how to take care
of the children, which included her signing a waiver stating she understood all of
the proper nutrition. So, this makes the case pretty cut and dry and it was concluded
that the mother was knowing of her neglect. Lastly, I don’t think the case will be
any different if she was not taught on how to take care of a child, simply because
the state of the children was so awful, she must’ve known something was going on
with her health and should’ve sought medical profession way beforehand. On the
whole, this case teaches us that children laws for abuse and neglect are very
necessary in today’s society since these kids cannot fend for themselves someone
must be taking accountable for their health.
B. In the Interest of A.W.
a. This case talks about the “reasonable efforts” requirement and how the Children
Protective Agency (CPA) must attempt to reunite the family before and after the
child’s removal. In this case the father was incarcerated, and the trial court change
the father’s goal to adoption when it came to his children. Then the appeals court
filed for a reverse of the trial court order and wanted the order to be reunification
with filed for a reverse of the trial court order and wanted the order to be
reunification with the child. The reason for the sudden change was due to the fact of
the father was making great progress and believe he was able to raise a child, his
good efforts were in the light of obtaining a full-time job and making donations
regularly. To conclude this case taught me that the safety of the child is also very
important for their life and that their parents has the financial means to be able to
raise them as well.