Department of Child Safety v. Beene

OPINION

THUMMA, Judge.

¶ 1 The issue in this special action is whether parents, at a trial (called an adjudication) on a motion to terminate their parental rights, have a due process right to call their children as witnesses to confront and cross-examine them about the children’s hearsay statements admitted in evidence. Petitioner Department of Child Safety (DCS) challenges the denial of its motion for a protective order seeking to preclude such testimony, arguing the superior court should have considered the children’s best interests in deciding whether parents had a right to call them as…