Child protective proceedings; Removal; MCL 712A.13a(9); MCR 3.965(C); Contrary-to-the-welfare findings; Reasonable efforts; Registered sex offender; Anticipatory neglect; In re KV; Adjudication; MCL 712A.2(b)(1) & (2); Waiver; Hearsay; Harmless error

The court held that the trial court properly removed the children from the parents’ care and that respondent-father was not entitled to relief from the adjudication order. He previously pled no contest to CSC III for sexually abusing another daughter when she was a minor. The DHHS petitioned to remove the children from respondent-mother’s unsafe home while alleging the father posed a risk. The court first held that the trial court made adequate findings under MCR 3.965(C) and MCL 712A.13a(9), including that custody at home posed a substantial risk of harm, remaining there was contrary to the children’s welfare, reasonable efforts had been made, and no available service or arrangement would adequately protect them. The court reasoned that the father’s prior sexual abuse supported removal under anticipatory neglect because “how a parent treats one child is certainly probative of how that parent may treat other children,” and the inference was amplified because the prior abuse began when the older child was similar in age to the children here. The court also held that the evidence supported the finding that no lesser arrangement would suffice because the mother could not meet the children’s basic needs and continued allowing the father unsupervised contact despite the safety plan. As to adjudication, the court held that the father waived challenges to admission of the judgment of sentence from his criminal case and a related competency evaluation by saying he had no objection. Further, any hearsay error in the caseworkers’ testimony was harmless because he acknowledged his CSC III convictions and the victim’s identity. Finally, the court declined to address his challenge to jurisdiction under MCL 712A.2(b)(2) because he did not challenge the independent jurisdictional ground under subsection (b)(1). Affirmed.