CA2/8

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Mother and her children, then 10-month-old N.V. and two and a half years old N.G. (who is not at issue in this appeal) came to the attention of the Department on April 16, 2012, when the Department received a referral for caretaker absence and incapacity, as well as emotional abuse of the children based on mother’s drug and alcohol abuse. Mother had a history with the Department, and had failed to reunify with an older child. An emergency response social worker visited mother’s home on April 20, 2012. Mother denied any drug use. A team decision-making meeting was held on May 10, 2012, and mother agreed to participate in voluntary family maintenance services. Mother stated L.V. was N.V.’s father. In July 2012, when the Department asked mother if she knew the whereabouts of N.V.’s father, mother responded that “father is not involved in [N.V.’s] life” and that mother had filed for full custody of the child. She later filled out and signed a parentage questionnaire dated April 3, 2013, stating L.V. was not present at N.V.’s birth, he did not sign the birth certificate, and mother and L.V. were not married at the time of L.V.’s conception or birth. There…