In re Adoption of Quan

The Department of Children and Families filed a petition for the care and protection of Quan, who was one year old. Mother and Father stipulated to the entry of decrees adjudicating Quan to be in need of care and protection, committing him to the custody of the Department, and terminating their parental rights. The judge accepted the stipulations and entered final decrees terminating the parents’ parental rights. Approximately nine months later the parents moved for relief from the final decrees. A juvenile court judge vacated the decrees terminating the parents’ parental rights on the ground that there had been a material mistake of law or neglect. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the order granting the parents’ motions for relief from the final decrees terminating their parental rights, holding that without a record of what transpired at the colloquies conducted before the judge accepted the stipulations, it could not be said that the motion judge’s findings were supported by or contrary to the evidence. View "In re Adoption of Quan" on Justia Law