.2509180915488.jpg)
Children and Youth Services (CYS) accused a paramour of the mother of the subject child of child abuse. The mother had taken the child to PSU-Hershey Medical Center two days after the child fell as he and the paramour were running up a wooden staircase in their stocking feet. The child cut in front of the paramour on the way up and the paramour fell onto the child; they both sustained injuries from the fall. Mother returned home from work and gave the child a bath and tended to the child’s injuries which appeared to be minor. Two days later, mother noticed swelling on the side of the child’s face and took the child to PSU-Medical Center ER. There the child was examined by a physician who is an expert in child pediatrics. The physician observed multiple bruises on the child’s body and a possible sternum fracture and determined the injuries are not consistent with a fall on the stairs and determined the cause of the injuries as “child abuse.”
Based upon the physician’s determination of child abuse, CYS removed the child from the mother’s and paramour’s home and completed an “indicated” child abuse report that the child had been abused and the child’s paramour was the abuser. The paramour was then added to the statewide database of child abusers. The paramour hired Marc A. Scaringi. Scaringi Law appealed the indicated report and had a hearing before the Department of Human Services Bureau of Hearings and Appeals.
At the hearing, the case worker, his supervisor and the physician testified in support of CYS. Attorney Scaringi successfully cross-examined the agency witnesses, including the physician whose expertise was in child pediatrics and child abuse, and elicited testimony from them that supported the paramour’s case. At the conclusion of the daylong hearing, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) took the matter under consideration. Three months later, the ALJ issued her recommendation to sustain the appeal on the grounds that CYS did not meet its burden to prove that child abuse occurred. The Department of Human Services approved the recommendation entirely.
Assuming CYS does not file a Petition for Reconsideration or appeal, the Department of Human Services will then remove the paramour’s name from the statewide register of child abusers. It was a difficult case because Attorney Scaringi was confronting an expert in pediatrics and child abuse who maintained that child abuse occurred. However, in the end, due to a vigorous cross-examination and presentation of contradictory and exculpatory evidence, the truth prevailed and Scaringi Law won the case for its client!