Moore v. County of Orange
In January 2010, J.M., then just over three years old, was taken into protective custody at the behest of county social workers. Their reason was mainly (but not entirely) the continued false allegations of child abuse lodged by J.M.’s mother, Melissa, against his father, Gregory. In May 2010, the juvenile court declared J.M. a dependent of the juvenile court and also made a dispositional order removing J.M. from the custody of both his parents. Gregory appealed from the dispositional order as it applied to him and won. In an opinion handed down by this court in late February 2011, we held the juvenile court lacked the necessary clear and convincing evidence of danger to J.M.’s physical health required to affirm his removal from his father’s custody. As to J.M.’s emotional health, we noted that if Gregory was no longer required to interact with Melissa, the emotional distress created by his parents’ open custody battle would be ameliorated, if not entirely eliminated.[1]
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