In re A.H.
District of Columbia Court of Appeals
842 A.2d 674 (2004)
D.H. (defendant), living on public assistance with her mother and five young children, kept a home that a property manager and later a caseworker separately found, across multiple visits over several months, to be filthy, roach-infested, with exposed feces and food, no working heat or refrigerator, and a lit gas oven left running around the children; D.H. appeared apathetic to the conditions on each visit and, though the children appeared healthy, showed no urgency in addressing the situation despite never reporting the maintenance problems she cited as an excuse. The Child and Family Services Agency (plaintiff) removed the children and petitioned to find D.H. neglectful; the trial court found neglect, and D.H. appealed.
Whether a neglect finding based on a family home's deplorable condition, persisting over time and not caused by a lack of financial means, is supported by the evidence.