State ex rel. West Virginia Department of Health & Human Resources ex rel. Chastity D. v. Hill

SCOTT, Justice:

In this original-jurisdiction proceeding, the petitioner, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (hereinafter “DHHR”), seeks a writ of mandamus compelling the respondent, the Honorable George W. Hill, Jr., Judge of the Circuit Court of Wood County, to conduct disposition hearings pursuant to West Virginia Code § 49-6-5 (1999) in six child abuse and neglect cases in order to resolve the status of the parental rights of the biological fathers, who allegedly abandoned their children. In each case, the mother’s parental rights have been terminated, but the…