In re N.R CA2/4

BACKGROUND

A. Referral and Initial Investigation Mother was age 13 when these proceedings were initiated. She lived with her maternal grandmother and legal guardian, K.H., who also was the legal guardian of three of mother’s half- siblings and was the adoptive parent of mother’s maternal half- sibling O.R. In late 2020, DCFS received two referrals concerning K.H. While investigating those referrals,1 a DCFS children’s social worker (CSW) learned that mother recently had given birth to N.R. The social worker initiated a new referral regarding N.R., citing concerns about mother’s maturity level and her recent involvement in physical altercations.

At least one of these referrals resulted in the filing of a dependency petition, which was heard concurrently with the petition filed in this case. We include here only information relevant to the petition filed in this case.

2 DCFS CSWs made an unannounced visit to the family’s home to investigate the referral. Mother and K.H. separately reported they were unaware mother was pregnant until she went into labor, despite K.H. taking mother to the doctor after she complained of weight gain and missed menses. Mother and K.H. also…