Jorden v. Arkansas Department of Human Services

John F. Stroud, Jr., Chief Judge.

On October 25, 1999, appellee, Arkansas Department of Human Services, filed a petition for emergency custody of three children, Paris, Mark, and Jasmine Harding. The petition was prompted by a report from the Child Abuse Hotline, alleging that the five-year-old child, Paris Harding, “had open wounds and bruises on both sides of his buttocks [and] the open wounds stained his underpants and were stuck to his skin.” The report also alleged that the child had stated that his father had hit him with a stick. Although no order of paternity has been entered, it…