In the Matter of K.d. & K.s. S.s. (father), Appellant (respondent Below) v. the Indiana Department of Child…

Summary

The court held that when one parent admits a CHINS petition and another parent denies it, the denying parent is entitled to a contested fact-finding hearing on the CHINS allegations. A contested dispositional hearing cannot substitute for that adjudicative hearing because it does not provide equivalent procedural protections or an opportunity to contest whether the child is a CHINS. The court remanded for a fact-finding hearing for Stepfather.