## Facts

- Timothy Wachlin (born 1968) lived with his mother, Nancy Wachlin, his sole known parent and an AFDC recipient.
- Medical evaluations identified a significant language delay; professionals recommended nursery school and speech therapy, including a program pairing therapy with parental training to stimulate language at home.
- Nancy failed to cooperate with recommended services: Timothy attended only 5 of 19 scheduled speech-therapy sessions (late for two), resulting in discharge from the program.
- Timothy was frequently tardy or absent from day-care/nursery programming.
- Witnesses reported Timothy often arrived in dirty, torn, and inappropriate clothing.
- The day-care director testified Nancy said she kept Timothy because otherwise she would not receive her AFDC check.
- Hennepin County filed a juvenile petition alleging neglect under Minnesota’s juvenile code.
- After hearing, the juvenile court adjudicated Timothy neglected and transferred legal custody to the Hennepin County Welfare Department, authorizing the department to remove him from the home as needed.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was sufficient to support the finding that Timothy was a “neglected child” under Minnesota law.
2. Whether the disposition transferring legal custody to the county welfare department, and authorizing agency discretion to remove the child from the home, was statutorily authorized and a proper exercise of discretion.

## Decision

- The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed the neglect adjudication.
- The court held the evidence supported a finding of neglect based on persistent failure to secure necessary treatment and consistent educational programming, along with evidence of inadequate physical care.
- The court affirmed the custody disposition transferring legal custody to the county welfare department.
- The court held the juvenile court acted within its statutory authority to place legal custody with a welfare agency and to permit agency implementation discretion subject to continuing juvenile-court oversight.

## Legal Principles

- A neglect finding may be supported where a parent fails or refuses to provide necessary care for a child’s needs, including cooperation with essential medical and developmental services.
- In reviewing child-welfare adjudications, appellate courts defer to the juvenile court’s credibility determinations and factfinding when supported by the record.
- After a neglect adjudication, the juvenile court has broad statutory discretion to enter a disposition serving the child’s best interests, including transfer of legal custody to a county welfare agency.
- A juvenile court may authorize a welfare agency to make placement and removal decisions as implementation of the court’s order, so long as the court retains ultimate supervisory authority and the order remains subject to judicial review.

## Conclusion

The court upheld the adjudication of neglect based on the mother’s sustained noncooperation with critical developmental services and evidence of inadequate care, and it sustained a disposition transferring legal custody to the county welfare department with authority to determine placement subject to juvenile-court control and the child’s best interests.


In re Welfare of Wachlin, 309 Minn. 370, 245 N.W.2d 183 (Minn. 1976)