SUMMARY: While “expert opinion testimony” regarding the credibility of witness statements should be excluded, in this case, the officer’s statement, “read in context,” was not to vouch for the credibility of a witness, but simply explained her departure from the standard interview form, and thus was...

SUMMARY: Termination of an incarcerated parent’s rights was in the best interests of the children because the incarceration prevented the parent from providing a “nurturing and structured environment,” and the parent’s continual perpetuation of crimes cast doubt on his ability to make the permanent...

SUMMARY: The trial court had the authority to prohibit therapy with a particular therapist based on evidence that the therapist was unable to understand why an adjudicated sex offender should be under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. The trial court also properly declined to adopt DHHS’s plan...

SUMMARY: Retaining jurisdiction over the children was in their best interests because “the permanency goal ha[d] not been met and the family’s lack of financial stability is directly related to their inability to care for their home and children.” The recommendations of the LB1184 team, which...

SUMMARY: “A court must instruct the jury on a lesser-included offense if: (1) the elements of the lesser offense for which an instruction is requested are such that one cannot commit the greater offense without simultaneously omitting the lesser offense and (2) the evidence produces a rational basis...

SUMMARY: “An adoption cannot be vacated under NICWA where the tribe’s entry into the proceedings is untimely.” The biological mother of Kenten H, relinquished her parental rights to Kenten H to the Department of Health and Human Services. She later petitioned the county court to vacate the adoption...

SUMMARY: “To challenge a dispositional order entered by the juvenile court on the basis of an assertion that the permanency objection differs from the case plan proposed by DHHS and that such a ruling and plan so adopted is not the in the best interests of the children, [the parent] must present her...

SUMMARY: The court found that the father’s “failure to intervene, when he was provided with substandard information, [did] not constitute abandonment,” and that the father’s use of the “automatic withdrawal payment process for child support” was not “a token effort, nor [did] it someone negatively...

SUMMARY: Termination of a mother’s parental rights was in the child’s best interest because the mother failed to meet case plan requirements, and the child had formed a positive relationship with a foster family willing to adopt. Further, signed reports prepared by caseworkers were acceptable and...

SUMMARY: The court found that the father’s “failure to intervene, when he was provided with substandard information, [did] not constitute abandonment,” and that the father’s use of the “automatic withdrawal payment process for child support” was not “a token effort, nor [did] it someone negatively...

SUMMARY: For the purposes of interpreting when DHHS is required to make reasonable efforts towards reunification under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 43-286.01, a family is defined as either the biological parents or a stepparent when such stepparent is married to the custodial parent at the time the petition is...

SUMMARY: Under § 43-285, the juvenile court has the authority to remove a case manager, “when after nearly a year of limited progress” the court ordered DHHS to “reassign th[e] case to an experienced case manager with demonstrated knowledge of incest cases and the needed treatment protocol to...

SUMMARY: A timely appeal of an order terminating parental rights may be allowed to proceed in forma pauperis when the motion is accompanied by a poverty affidavit that has been” properly made and authenticated, out of state before a person authorized to administer oaths in the place where the...

SUMMARY: The juvenile court properly exercised its emergency jurisdiction over Maxwell while one parent was incarcerated and the other parent was in alcohol treatment. Although there was a South Dakota custody order, the Nebraska court could continue its jurisdiction so long as the emergency...

SUMMARY: Even though the mother was “not at fault for her present situation and that she very much desire[d] [her daughter’s] return” the court recognized that “when a parent is unable or unwilling to rehabilitate himself or herself within a reasonable time, the best interests of the child require...