Court finds lack of jurisdiction under the UCCJEA, vacating the lower court’s termination of parental rights.

In a decision released on Friday, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals dismissed a lower court’s judgment that had terminated a mother’s parental rights to her three children.

The court found that the Jackson Juvenile Court did not have the proper subject-matter jurisdiction to hear the case under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA).

The case began in November 2022, when the Jackson County Department of Human Resources (DHR) became involved after the mother, C.R.B., and her children, then ages four, three, and four months, were found in a Bridgeport motel room where a friend had overdosed on fentanyl.

The mother, C.R.B., was arrested on drug charge

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