New Jersey Division of Child Protection & Permanency v. A.B.

This case comes before us as a matter of right from a divided Appellate Division panel. The panel majority upheld the trial court’s determinations that defendant A.B. abused or neglected A.P., her sixteen-year-old daughter; that A.B. willfully abandoned A.F.; and that remarks attributed to A.B.’s sister, J.F., were subject to suppression as embedded hearsay. The dissenting panelist disagreed with all three determinations.

We now affirm the panel majority’s judgment that the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency met its burden of proof concerning A.B.’s abuse or neglect of A.F.…