DCPP VS. B.H., H.S., AND T.S., IN THE MATTER OF M.S. (FN-13-0236-17, MONMOUTH COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED) (A-4179-17T2)
The court reversed the abuse or neglect finding under Title 9 against defendant, who was the boyfriend of the child's biological mother. During the eighteen months that defendant dated the child's mother, he provided no financial support for the child or the mother; never lived in the same house as the child and the mother; and the child never described defendant using any parental terms. Based on the unrefuted testimony, defendant had no ongoing responsibility or obligation to provide regular care or supervision for the child. The court held that a person who assumes brief or temporary supervision or care of a child, such as a one-time request to babysit or drive a child to a designated location at the request of a biological parent, does not impose a general and continuing obligation between the adult and the child to trigger the requisite duty of care to charge abuse or neglect under Title 9.
