The Court reversed the trial court’s finding of aggravated circumstances because under MCL 722.638(1)(a), a court may bypass reunification and consider termination of parental rights at the outset only when a parent has already abused the child or the child’s sibling, not when there is anticipatory abuse or where the sibling is not biological.

The trial court erroneously refused to view and admit video-recorded forensic interviews with the children, who were allegedly abused by their father, the Michigan COA has ruled.