New Jersey Division of Youth & Family Services v. T.S.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

NUGENT, J.A.D.

Following a guardianship trial at which the Division of Youth and Family Services1 (the Division) failed to prove a cause of action for terminating defendant T.S.’s parental rights to C.B. (“Charlie”),2 the Family Part judge ordered that the “matter as to *206[defendant] ... shall revert to the FN docket [number]” and scheduled a permanency hearing before another judge. On the date of the permanency hearing, the new judge, among other things, scheduled sua sponte an abuse or neglect fact-finding hearing. Following the fact-finding hearing,…