RECORD IMPOUNDED NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-2877-19T1 H.V.D.M., APPROVED FOR PUBLICATION Plaintiff-Appellant, February 1, 2021 APPELLATE DIVISION v. R.W., Defendant-Respondent. ________________________ Submitted December 9, 2020 – Decided February 1, 2021 Before Judges Whipple, Rose and Firko. On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Family Part, Essex County, Docket No. FD-0727-20. Law Office of Eric M. Mark, attorney for appellant (Marisol Conde-Hernandez, on the brief). R.W., respondent, has not filed a brief. The opinion of the court was delivered by WHIPPLE, J.A.D. In this appeal we address the predicate state court findings necessary for a federal petition for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). Specifically, a state court must analyze the five prongs of the federal regulations set forth in 8 C.F.R. § 204.11(c) (2020) under state law before an applicant can file a petition to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for SIJS. The trial court concluded that a child, Daria, 1 was not dependent on the New Jersey courts due to the existence of a Canadian custody order that awarded custody to plaintiff, her paternal grandmother, H.V.D.M. (Helen). We conclude that the trial court erred when it held that Daria was not dependent on the New Jersey courts and dismissed the complaint. We reverse and remand for further findings consistent with the instructions below. We discern the following facts from the record. In March 2012, Daria was born in Toronto, Canada, to mother R.W. (Rita) and father David. Rita and David are both Canadian citizens and residents. Remy is Daria's half- sister, Rita's daughter by a different father, and is also a Canadian resident. In April 2012, the Children's Aid Society of Toronto (CAST) became involved with the family due to allegations that Rita abused Remy. As a result, CAST provided parenting services to the family. In June 2013, Remy reported that Rita had recently abused both her and Daria. Also, Remy stated that David hit her. In response, CAST removed both 1 We use pseudonyms for ease of reference due to the similarities of some family initials. We utilize the protections of Rule 1:38-3(c)(9) due to the confidential nature of child custody records. A-2877-19T1 2 Daria and Remy from the home. From June 2013 through February 2015, Daria spent time in foster care, with her father, and with two maternal aunts. On October 14, 2014, a psychiatrist submitted a report to CAST in which he concluded it was "extremely likely" that David suffered from pedophilia. Subsequently, David refused to cooperate with CAST. On February 18, 2015, the Ontario Court of Justice (Canadian court) issued an order allowing Daria's reunification with Rita subject to supervision and on certain conditions, including the requirement that Rita prohibit David access to Daria. In August 2015, the Canadian court terminated the supervision aspect of the February 18, 2015, order; however, on May 23, 2016, a CAST caseworker reported that Rita allowed David to ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals