Rule 5 Contemporaneous civil, criminal, and other proceedings

Child abuse and neglect cases must move forward on their own schedule. The court cannot pause or delay these cases just because there's also a criminal case, police investigation, or some other legal matter happening at the same time involving the same people or situation.

This means if a parent is facing criminal charges related to the same abuse or neglect allegations, the child's case in family court still keeps moving. The court won't wait for the criminal case to finish before making decisions about the child's safety and custody arrangements.

The reason behind this rule is simple: children need stability and quick decisions about their well-being. Waiting months or years for a criminal case to wrap up would leave kids in limbo, which isn't good for them. So even if other legal proceedings are happening in the background, the child abuse and neglect case stays on track and gets resolved as quickly as possible.