Supreme Court of Connecticut
In re Vada V.
June 20, 2022343 Conn. 730
Summary
The court affirmed the termination of the respondents’ parental rights after a virtual trial conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. It held that the respondents’ unpreserved constitutional challenges to the virtual format and physical confrontation of witnesses either failed under the applicable review framework or could not be reviewed because the record was inadequate. The court likewise declined to review their technology-access claims because the record did not establish the factual predicates necessary to determine whether a constitutional violation occurred, while emphasizing the importance of equal access to justice in virtual proceedings.