In
re A.P., 2013 IL App (3rd) 120672
In March 2012 the State filed a
petition for adjudication due to the mother being involved in a violent
domestic relationship with her paramour and mental illness. The father was not named in the
petition because his identity was not yet known.
Approximately 1 month after the
adjudicatory hearing the respondent was identified as the father. He filed an answer to the petition stipulating
to the allegations but denying he contributed to the abuse or neglect.
At a subsequent court hearing the
State presented the court with a memo outlining the father’s criminal history
and that he was criminally charged with kidnapping the children during a
visit.
In August 2012, and adjudication
and disposition hearing was held for the father. The circuit court took judicial notice of the
proffer made at the mother’s adjudication and again found the minor to be
abused.
At the father’s disposition hearing,
father asked the court to reserve the disposition finding pending the outcome
of the criminal case regarding the kidnapping.
The father had not cooperated with DCFS to complete a social history and
integrative assessment on the advice of his criminal attorney. The circuit court found the father to be
unfit based on his refusal to cooperate with DCFS, his past criminal
convictions (including violent crimes) and the pending kidnapping case.
The appellate court held that a
parent can be found unfit at a disposition hearing even when there are no
allegations contained in the juvenile court petition against that parent. The Petition puts both parents on notice that
fitness will be an issue at the disposition hearing. Here the evidence of father’s failure to
cooperate and criminal history supported a finding that the father was
dispositionally unfit.
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