Department of Human Services v. T. M. B.

In these consolidated cases, the juvenile court terminated mother’s parental rights after a trial at which mother failed to appear. Mother subsequently filed motions to set aside the termination judgments, asserting that she had failed to appear because she had made a mistake about the trial date. The juvenile court denied the motions. Mother appeals, contending that the record establishes, as a matter of law, that her failure to appear was due to excusable neglect and that the juvenile court abused its discretion in denying the motions. We conclude that, because the record contains…