State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. Smith

The Department of Human Services (DHS) petitioned the Multnomah County Circuit Court to appoint a guardian for T, a severely disabled three-and-a-half-year-old ward of the court in the custody of DHS. In particular, DHS sought a guardian to act as T’s health care representative with authority to decide whether to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures, even over the objection of T’s mother. The court granted DHS’s petition, and mother appeals. We affirm.

We begin with an overview, amplified in the body of the opinion, so as to make clear at the outset what our decision holds and, more…