The Union County Department of Family and Children Services the “Department” filed a deprivation petition seeking temporary custody of then nine-year-old B. H. Following a hearing, the trial court found that B. H. was deprived because the child was sexually abused by the father and because the mother failed to protect the child. The father and mother appeal. We affirm. 1. The father and mother contend that the evidence was insufficient to show that B. H. was deprived as to the father. We disagree.
A deprived child is one who “is without proper parental care or control, subsistence, education as required by law, or other care or control necessary for the child’s physical, mental, or emotional health or morals.”1 “On appeal from a determination that a child is deprived, we review the evidence in a light most favorable to the juvenile court’s judgment to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found by clear and convincing evidence that the child was deprived.”2 Further, to authorize even a loss of temporary custody by a child’s parents, on the basis of deprivation, the deprivation must be shown to have resulted from unfitness on the part of the parent, that is, either intentional or unintentional misconduct resulting in the abuse or neglect of the child or by what is tantamount to physical or mental incapability to care for the child.3 So viewed, the record shows that B. H. was the adopted child of the father and mother. From July through November of 2006, then 11-year-old M. G., a foster child, lived in the home with B. H. and the parents. M. G. also visited the home from time to time thereafter. M. G. testified that the father touched her “privates,” sometimes with his toys, sometimes with his hand, and sometimes with his tongue. The father would use the toys, which vibrated, on the outside of her private area. According to M. G., B. H. was in the bedroom “more than once” with M. G. and the father when the incidents happened. M. G. saw the father touch, lick, and use toys on B. H.’s private area on more than one occasion. B. H. did not testify at the hearing, but she underwent a forensic interview and a forensic evaluation during which she did not disclose any incidents of abuse.
