Ark. Dep't of Human Servs. v. Lewis ( 2016 )

Cite as 2016 Ark. App. 533
ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS
DIVISION I
No. CV-16-601
Opinion Delivered: NOVEMBER 2, 2016
ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF APPEAL FROM THE PULASKI
HUMAN SERVICES COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT,
APPELLANT TENTH DIVISION [NO. 60JV-16-319]
V. HONORABLE JOYCE WILLIAMS
WARREN, JUDGE
TOMISHA LEWIS AND MINOR
CHILDREN SUPPLEMENTATION OF THE
APPELLEES ADDENDUM ORDERED
KENNETH S. HIXSON, Judge
This is a dependency-neglect case. On March 1, 2016, appellant Arkansas
Department of Human Services (DHS) exercised an emergency hold of appellee Tomisha
Lewis’s three children after Tomisha’s youngest child fell down some steps while strapped
in a child carrier. The accident occurred while Tomisha was arguing with the child’s father.
Although the child was not seriously injured, both parents were arrested and charged with
endangering the welfare of a child. The trial court entered an ex parte order for emergency
custody of the three children on March 4, 2016, and a probable-cause order was entered on
March 9, 2016.
An adjudication hearing was held on April 6, 2016, and on the same day, the trial
court entered an order finding that DHS had failed to meet its burden of proving that the
Cite as 2016 Ark. App. 533
juveniles were dependent-neglected. The trial court dismissed the petition, closed the case,
and returned the children to Tomisha’s custody.
DHS now appeals from the order dismissing its dependency-neglect petition. On
appeal, DHS argues that Tomisha’s children were dependent-neglected as a result of
inadequate supervision and parental unfitness, and therefore that the order of dismissal
should be reversed. Because DHS has submitted a brief with an addendum that is deficient,
we are unable to reach the merits of its argument at this time, and we order DHS to
supplement its addendum.
Arkansas Supreme Court Rule 4-2(a)(8) provides that an appellant’s addendum shall
contain documents in the record on appeal that are essential for the appellate court to
confirm its jurisdiction, to understand the case, and to decide the issues on appeal. Pursuant
to Rule 4-2(a)(8)(i), the addendum must contain the notice of appeal. Here, DHS failed to
include in its addendum a complete copy of its notice of appeal, without which this court
is unable to confirm its jurisdiction.
Rule 4-2(b)(4) provides that if the appellate court determines that deficiencies or
omissions in the abstract or addendum need to be corrected, but complete rebriefing is not
needed, then the court will order the appellant to file a supplemental abstract or addendum
within seven calendar days to provide the additional materials from the record to the
members of the appellate court. The appellant has seven calendar days in which to file a
supplemental addendum in compliance with this rule. We encourage appellant’s counsel,
prior to filing the supplemental addendum, to review our rules as well as the record and
addendum to ensure that no additional deficiencies are present.
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Cite as 2016 Ark. App. 533
Supplementation of the addendum ordered.
GLOVER and HOOFMAN, JJ., agree.
Andrew Firth, Office of Chief Counsel, for appellant.
Tabitha McNulty, Arkansas Public Defender Commission, for appellee.
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