NEW JERSEY DIVISION OF CHILD PROTECTION AND PERMANENCY VS. K.N.S. IN THE MATTER OF E.J.S.
A-4394-13T3
In this abuse or neglect case, the mother was grossly negligent in that she failed to provide adequate care and protection for her seven-month-old son when she left him in the care of a boyfriend while she worked and the child was seriously injured by the boyfriend.
Despite the appropriate finding of neglect in this case, one might question the discrepancy between the permanent disqualifications resulting from Title Nine's Central Registry for abuse and neglect cases and the opportunity that exists under our Criminal Code for expungement of criminal convictions and relief from Megan's Law registration requirements. The Title Nine registry is a permanent record of the parent's misconduct and imposes a lifetime of disqualifications. It provides no opportunity for the remorseful and rehabilitated parent to expunge the record or ever to remove her name from the registry, even if the parent proves to be of good character for many years and even if the past incident of abuse or neglect does not cause lasting harm to the child.
