State Ex Rel. Juvenile Department v. Lauffenberger

The legal issue in dispute is whether “best interests of the child” is the proper standard for a juvenile court’s placement of a child with the child’s father or third parties.

In 1984 Brenda Shuree Lauffenberger, then four years old, became a ward of the juvenile court on grounds of parental neglect. ORS 419.476(1) (e). 1 At the time of the court’s order, the parents were divorced, the father was in military service, and Brenda lived with her mother’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Menge. The juvenile court placed Brenda in the Menges’ physical custody with legal custody in the Children’s Services…