Nicole Soucie

A temporary care and custody motion under Part III of the Child and Family Services Act concerning child N.H., whose twin sibling died from inflicted injuries.

The Children's Aid Society sought placement of the child with the paternal great-aunt subject to supervision.

The parents sought return of the child to their care or alternatively placement with the paternal uncle with parental residence in that home.

The court found credible and trustworthy evidence of inflicted trauma to both children and determined that the child could not be returned to parental care even with supervision.

The court ordered the child remain in the temporary care and custody of the paternal great-aunt with supervised access to the parents at the society's discretion.

The mother appealed a summary judgment order making her child a Crown ward with no access for the purposes of adoption.

The mother argued the motions judge erred by refusing to grant an adjournment to allow her to complete counselling and programs for her severe substance abuse issues.

The appeal court found no error in the exercise of discretion, noting the mother's long history of drug dependency, her failure to comply with pre-trial directions, and the statutory imperative to ensure timely permanency planning for young children.

The appeal was dismissed.

The respondent mother brought a motion to set aside a summary judgment decision rendered on September 29, 2014, in a child protection matter.

The mother sought to reopen the hearing based on newly received hair follicle drug test results from May 2014 and alleged factual errors in the judgment.

The court addressed the threshold jurisdictional issue of whether it was functus officio and determined it retained discretion to reconsider the judgment prior to the order being entered.

The court found that while the mother had not exercised due diligence in obtaining the test results, the evidence would not have changed the outcome given the totality of grave concerns including the mother's historical drug use, failure to cooperate with testing, violent conduct, poor judgment in child supervision, and refusal to accept responsibility for harm to the children.

The motion was dismissed.