Middleton v. Department of Human Services

The Department of Human Services (DHS) appeals, challenging the circuit court’s judgment setting aside DHS’s order in an “other than contested case” proceeding. ORS 183.484(1). In that order, DHS determined the adoptive placement of a child, A; specifically, DHS determined that A should be placed for adoption with intervenors, the Hemphills, who had been A’s foster parents since he first came into DHS’s care as an infant, instead of respondents, the Middletons, who are A’s maternal great-aunt and her husband. The Middletons sought judicial review of DHS’s order, contending that DHS had…