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Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services v. P.F.3/6/2001
enetration occurred, or the particular setting where the incident allegedly occurred. Such additional evidence might have added important detail that was corroborating or exculpatory. Instead, MCHHS based its entire investigation and findings on this three year old's brief statement, without sufficiently investigating " hether extrinsic evidence exist to show the defendant's opportunity to commit the act complained of in the child's statement." See § 775(d)(10); FL § 5-706 (local department must "make a thorough investigation"). Given the plausibility questions raised by the child's account, the ALJ was justified in making a factual finding based on the lack of any "corroborative evidence that . . . the alleged offender . . . had the opportunity to commit the alleged abuse . . . ." See § 775(c)(2).
The final reason that the ALJ found the child's statement unreliable was that MCHHS itself had not found the statement sufficiently credible or reliable to justify an investigation of the child's statement that her mother hurt her. In its brief, MCHHS states that " he ALJ noted . . . that Ms. Gumula did not follow up on [Susan's] statements about her mother hurting her because [Susan] told her that this happened when her mother washed her."
Our review of the ALJ's decision and Gumula's testimony reveals that MCHHS has mischaracterized both. The ALJ stated that "included in Ms. Gumula's testimony was an added statement, that the Child's mother hurt her vagina while washing her." Gumula testified that "when we asked her did anybody ever hurt her pee-pee, she said yes, her mother did at home, but she really couldn't tell, you know when she was washing her . . . ." Neither of these statements says that the source of Gumula's "washing" explanation was the child herself. Moreover, as the ALJ correctly observed, none of the notes or reports that Gumula made contemporaneously with the interview and investigation mentioned this "washing" explanation. In these circumstances, the evidence supported the ALJ's conclusion that Gumula and MCHHS "did not consider the statement about the Child's mother to be credible," but did not explain "why this statement by the Child was not believed when the Child's statements about her father's actions were believed and accepted as fact." In turn, this conclusion supported the ALJ's finding that even MCHHS found the child's statement to be inconsistent and unreliable.
We find no error by either the ALJ or the circuit court. MCHHS must comply with the order to reclassify the case as "ruled out," and expunge its records and registry.
JUDGMENT AFFIRMED. COSTS TO BE PAID BY APPELLANT.
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