Child protection appeal concerning the standard of appellate review for disposition decisions under child protection legislation.
A child was apprehended by the Director of Child Protection; both the maternal grandmother and the biological father sought permanent custody at the disposition hearing.
The hearing judge awarded custody to the grandmother, finding it was in the child's best interests, but the Court of Appeal reversed and awarded custody to the father.
The Supreme Court restored the hearing judge's order, holding that appellate intervention is only warranted where there is a material error, a serious misapprehension of the evidence, or an error in law.
The Court held that a biological tie carries minimal weight in a best interests analysis and does not serve as a tie-breaker; a court may also consider the conduct of a child protection agency in determining how the status quo arose and assessing the weight of evidence presented by or through the agency.
