Slaughter, J.
We have previously held that a tardy notice of appeal forfeits the aggrieved party’s right to appeal, but does not deprive a reviewing court of jurisdiction to hear the appeal. Today, we hold that a premature notice of appeal likewise is not fatal to appellate jurisdiction. The two prerequisites for invoking appellate jurisdiction were both present here—an appealable trial-court order and entry of the notice of completion of clerk’s record in the chronological case summary.
The trial court found that Parents’ two minor children were “in need of services”—meaning they had been abused or neglected at home and were unlikely to receive the care or treatment they needed without a court’s coercive intervention. A child-in-need-of-services (CHINS) determination is not a final judgment. Finality does not occur until the court, after a dispositional hearing, resolves such questions as what specific services are warranted and whether the child should be placed in an alternative living arrangement, either provisionally or permanently. Although the CHINS determination was not final, Parents filed notices of appeal challenging only this interlocutory ruling and not the court’s later dispositional order. The Court of Appeals concluded that it lacked jurisdiction and dismissed Parents’ appeal. We do not take issue with the Court’s decision to dismiss the appeal; it is never error to dismiss a forfeited appeal. The Court’s only error was its stated reason for dismissal—lack of jurisdiction.
Despite Parents’ forfeited appeal, we exercise our discretion to decide their case on its merits. Having previously granted transfer in this CHINS matter, we reverse the trial court. The record does not support the court’s finding that Parents needed the court’s coercive intervention to provide for their Boys’ needs at the time of the dispositional hearing.
Discussion and Decision
This case presents two issues: one procedural, one substantive. Because Parents filed premature notices of appeal, the Court of Appeals held it lacked jurisdiction and dismissed their appeal with prejudice, declining to reach the merits. We hold, first, that appellate jurisdiction is secure; and, second, that the Department failed to prove that Parents required the State’s coercive intervention to meet their children’s needs. We thus reverse the trial court’s determination that the Boys were in need of services.
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Despite the thirty-day requirement for filing a notice of appeal, timeliness is not a prerequisite to invoking appellate jurisdiction. Stated differently, the reviewing court is not deprived of jurisdiction if the notice is untimely—meaning belated or premature. The only two prerequisites under our appellate rules are (i) the trial court must have entered an appealable order, and (ii) the trial clerk must have entered the notice of completion of clerk’s record on the CCS.
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Here, the notices of appeal indicated, erroneously, that Parents were pursuing an expedited appeal from a final judgment. In fact, Parents filed their respective notices before the trial court had entered a final judgment. By filing notices of appeal from a non-final CHINS determination—and not a final CHINS judgment—Parents forfeited their rights to appeal. The Court of Appeals understandably relied upon the above procedural rules in declining to reach the merits of Parents’ appeal, and it had every right to do so. But an untimely notice of appeal does not divest a reviewing court of jurisdiction. See id. at 970-71; App. R. 8.
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Given the purpose of our appellate rules, our preference for deciding cases on their merits, our Court of Appeals precedent, and the important parental interest at stake, we choose to disregard Parents’ forfeiture and reach the merits. See Adoption of O.R., 16 N.E.3d at 971-72.
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The third element, however—that Parents were unlikely to attend to the Boys’ care or treatment without the court’s coercive intervention—is not sufficiently supported by the record. The point of a CHINS inquiry is to “protect children, not [to] punish parents.” In re N.E., 919 N.E.2d 102, 106 (Ind. 2010) (citation omitted). To that end, the third element “guards against unwarranted State interference in family life, reserving that intrusion for families ‘where parents lack the ability to provide for their children,’ not merely where they ‘encounter difficulty in meeting a child’s needs.’” S.D., 2 N.E.3d at 1287 (citation omitted) (emphases in original). When determining CHINS status under Section 31-34-1-1, particularly the “coercive intervention” element, courts “should consider the family’s condition not just when the case was filed, but also when it is heard.” Id. at 1290 (citation omitted). Doing so avoids punishing parents for past mistakes when they have already corrected them. See id. at 1289–90.
The trial court’s CHINS order included factual findings that amply support its conclusion that Parents required coercive intervention early in the CHINS process. But those findings did not show that Parents needed ongoing coercive intervention throughout the process, and they certainly did not show that Parents needed such intervention by the time of the fact-finding hearing months later. To the contrary, the record shows that Parents eventually cooperated with the Department’s services and had satisfactorily completed all services (except those deferred by the Department or the court) by the time of the fact-finding hearing.
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Because we conclude the Department did not prove the third element by a preponderance of the evidence, we reverse the trial court’s CHINS determination.
Conclusion
We hold that Parents’ premature notices of appeal did not deprive the Court of Appeals of jurisdiction to hear the appeal. Given the importance of the family interest at issue here, we exercise our discretion to decide this case on its merits. Having previously granted transfer, we reverse the trial court’s CHINS determination, concluding that the Department failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Parents required the court’s coercive intervention to ensure the Boys were properly cared for.
Rush, C.J., and Rucker, David, Massa, JJ., concur.