J-A05006-23 2023 PA SUPER 55 IN THE INTEREST OF: R.C.-G., A : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF MINOR : PENNSYLVANIA : : APPEAL OF: R.C.-C., FATHER : : : : : No. 2521 EDA 2022 Appeal from the Order Entered September 13, 2022 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Juvenile Division at No(s): CP-51-DP-0000369-2022 BEFORE: LAZARUS, J., KUNSELMAN, J., and MURRAY, J. OPINION BY LAZARUS, J.: FILED MARCH 31, 2023 R.C.-C. (Father) appeals from the trial court’s order adjudicating his daughter, R.C.-G. (Child) (born 5/08), dependent,1 finding her to be the victim of child abuse,2 and concluding that the abuse was due to Father’s failure to act. See 23 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 6303, 6381(d). After careful review, we affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand for further proceedings. Father and Child are Guatemalan immigrants. Child is Spanish- speaking. Father speaks a Guatemalan dialect known as Q’eqchi’.3 In April 2022, the Philadelphia Police Department received a third-party complaint ____________________________________________ 1Father concedes that the evidence supports a finding of dependency. See N.T. Adjudicatory/Child Abuse Hearing, 9/13/22, at 99-100; Father’s Brief, at 10. 3 Mother resides in Guatemala. She participated in the hearing, with the aid of an interpreter, via telephone. J-A05006-23 alleging that Child was living with an adult4 male, J.T., and that she was pregnant.5 Officer Jose Viera of the Special Victim’s Unit visited Child at the Winston Street, Philadelphia, residence listed in the complaint. Two men in their thirties answered the door and, at first, denied knowing Child. Officer Viera testified that Child then “came down the steps from the second floor” of the residence. N.T. Adjudicatory/Child Abuse Hearing, 9/13/22, at 29. Child confirmed her identity, pregnancy, and age (13 years old) to Officer Viera.6 Id. at 31. Child also told Officer Viera that she had been living in the house with J.T. “prior to her 12th birthday,” id., and that she was not living with any family members in the residence. Id. at 32. Following the officer’s investigation, a Child Protective Services (CPS) report was generated alleging that Child was the victim of statutory sexual assault.7 Id. at 55-56. Officer Viera transported Child to the Philadelphia ____________________________________________ 4 J.T. was 19-years-old at the time of the alleged incident. 5Child was also not attending school. In fact, school records show that Child was in school for only one month in 2020. N.T. Adjudicatory/Child Abuse Hearing, 9/13/22, at 58-59. 6Office Viera speaks Spanish. Once he determined that Child only spoke Spanish, he conversed with her in Spanish. Id. at 30. 7 See 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3122.1(a)(1) (statutory sexual assault defined, in relevant part, as “a person [who] engages in sexual intercourse with a complainant to whom the person is not married who is under the age of 16 years old and that person is either: (1) four years older but less than eight years older than the complainant[.]”). -2- J-A05006-23 Department of Human Services (DHS)8 where DHS investigator Serena Melendez interviewed Child, with the aid of a Spanish-speaking …
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals