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A three-judge panel of the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday not to order the return of a Klamath Falls baby to his parents, who were in an incestuous relationship.

(Oregon Judicial Department)

Two Klamath Falls parents lost their appeal Wednesday to win back custody of their son, taken away by child welfare workers just four days after he was born.

The Oregon Court of Appeals refused to order the return of the baby to the couple -- a 49-year-old man and his 25-year-old biological daughter.

The state Department of Human Services had determined last year that their incestuous relationship posed a sizable risk to the boy's well-being. The father and daughter argued that the department had failed to prove its case.

Although the appeals court opinion doesn't offer specifics about the father and daughter, a Eugene Register-Guard story stated that the father didn't have custody of his daughter as she was growing up. They reportedly reconnected when she was an adult.

Incest -- even when both participants are adults -- is a felony crime in Oregon.

Both the father and the daughter pleaded guilty to incest, and were sentenced earlier this year to 10 days in jail, 18 months of probation and to have no contact with each other, according to court records. The father was sentenced to an additional six months in jail last month for violating the terms of his probation sometime between January and March. The violation was for moving in with the daughter, the Register-Guard reported.

The appeals court opinion says that the daughter has given birth to at least one other child from the relationship with her father. In August 2013, she delivered a boy plagued by serious genetic problems -- likely because of the close genetic links between his parents, the appeals court states.

Nine months later in June 2014, the daughter gave birth to a second boy, identified only by the initial C -- and who is the subject of the appeals court ruling. The baby also might suffer from similar genetic abnormalities, the opinion says.

The Register-Guard reported that the daughter became pregnant a third time from sexual relations with her father, but that pregnancy ended in utero.

Although the daughter was married to another man at the time of C's birth, according to DHS, both she and her father admitted that the two boys were their offspring.

In all, the daughter has given birth to five children -- and lost custody of all of them, the opinion says. It appears possible, however, that C could be returned to the parents' custody at a later date, depending on whether they work with DHS to change, said one attorney who handles juvenile cases.

The appeals court says DHS took custody of C because of his parents' mental health problems and "chaotic lifestyle and living instability." A child welfare worker also said the daughter was using methamphetamine at the time of the boy's birth.

The couple lived in Lane County as well as Klamath County, where C was born.

Wednesday's ruling was made by a three-judge panel for the appeals court: Lynn Nakamoto, James Egan and Janice Wilson.

-- Aimee Green

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