State of West Virginia ex rel. Amy M., Shane B., Ii, Jesse B., Matthew B., and Travis B., Petitioner v. Honorable…

Summary

The court granted a writ of prohibition barring enforcement of an additional post-adjudicatory improvement period because the parents had already received nearly two years of extensions and delays, with little meaningful improvement and increasing emotional harm to the children. The court held that the statutory limits on improvement periods and the requirement that abuse and neglect cases proceed expeditiously made further delay impermissible, and it ordered the circuit court to hear evidence and proceed to final disposition. The court did not decide whether the guardian ad litem was improperly denied the opportunity to present additional evidence because that issue was not properly raised, but permitted the evidence to be taken on remand.