Adoption of K.F. v. L.F.

935 N.E.2d 282, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1907
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 14, 2010
DocketNo. 47A04-1006-AD-373
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 935 N.E.2d 282 (Adoption of K.F. v. L.F.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adoption of K.F. v. L.F., 935 N.E.2d 282, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1907 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

NAJAM, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

B.F. ("Mother") appeals the trial court's grant of L.F.'s ("Stepmother's") petition for adoption of Mother's minor children KF. and T.F. Mother presents a single issue for our review, namely, whether Stepmother presented sufficient evidence to support the trial court's grant of the adoption petition without Mother's consent. *

We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Mother and AF. ("Father") were married and had two children, TF., born on December 9, 1999, and K.F., born on February 22, 2001. Mother and Father divoreed in 2002, and Father was granted physical custody of both children. Mother was awarded parenting time and ordered to pay child support. Mother was only sporadically employed in the years after the divorce, and she has battled a serious drug addiction. As a result, as of 2009 Mother had a $14,095 child support arrear-age.

Father married Stepmother in 2006. Since then, T.F. and KF. have lived with Father and Stepmother in Bedford. In May 2007, the dissolution court ordered that Mother's visits with the children be supervised by their maternal grandmother, and the court ordered Mother to undergo drug sereens at her own expense. Mother tested positive for benzodiazapenes and methadone in 2007; she tested positive for cocaine and opiates in February 2008; and she tested positive for morphine and codeine in September 2008. Also, Mother had diluted her urine sample for the September 2008 drug sereen.

In the meantime, on May 2, 2008, Stepmother filed her petition for adoption of T.F. and KF. Then, in April 2009, Mother was arrested and charged with dealing in heroin. Mother was four months pregnant at the time, but she did not know she was pregnant. As a result of that eriminal charge, Mother is participating in a drug [284]*284court program, which she is scheduled to complete in June 2011.1 On March 19, 2010, Mother failed a drug sereen and admitted that she had "taken Percocet and had snorted heroin." Appellant's App. at 127.

At the hearing on Stepmothers adoption petition, Mother testified that she had obtained temporary employment as a house painter. Mother lives with her mother and continues to have only supervised visitation with her children. Mother's visita tion schedule is as follows: T.F. visits three Saturdays out of each month for eight hours, and KF. comes with T.F. on one of those Saturdays. However, on the day when both children are visiting, Mother only visits with the children for two hours. Father and Stepmother testified that the children are stressed before and after their visits with Mother. Otherwise, the children are happy and well-adjusted in their lives with Father and Stepmother.

Following the hearing on Stepmother's petition, the trial court found and conelud-ed in relevant part as follows:

Findings of Fact
* # #
8. That Mother has knowingly failed to provide support for the minor children since the issuance of the decree when able to do so.
9. That for the 7 years that the parties have been divorced, Mother has paid only $2,305.00 as support for the parties' minor children.
10. That Mother has been found in contempt of the Court's child support order on three different occasions on April 12, 2006; June 15, 2007 and July 27, 2009. 11. That Mother was behind $14,095.00 as of June 80, 2009.
12. That the only payments that have been made for the support of the minor children since April 14, 2009[,] were made by a third party on Mother's behalf in the amount of $250.00 on 11/2/09 and 11/3/09.
13. That Mother has a serious drug addiction which affects her ability to support her children in any manner. 14. That after their divorce, the parties returned to Monroe Circuit Court on numerous occasions for hearings related to Mother's drug issues.
15. That on April 26, 2007[,] the Monroe Circuit Court ordered Mother's parenting to be supervised by her mother and further ordered Mother to submit to a drug sereen through the Monroe County Probation Department.
16. That Mother's parenting time has continued to be supervised since that date.
17. That Mother tested positive for Al-prazolam and Methodone on 4-26-07.
18. That on September 6, 2007, the Monroe Cireuit Court found that the Mother had not presented any evidence that she had stopped using illegal substances; that she did not appear or participate in the Home Investigation so that the probation department could work cooperatively with Mother to identify her substance abuse issues and 'make appropriate referrals for assistance; that Mother continues to arrive late for visits and is not consistent and focused in spending time with the children; that Mother's lack of stability and consistency during visitation may be harmful to the children.
[285]*28519. That on December 5, 2007, the Monroe Cireuit Court found that the children were 6 and 7 years of age and were not capable of understanding why Mother does not come on time to visits and/or why she does not spend more time with them or prioritize them during visits; stopping visits will stabilize the emotions of the children; and Mother did not participate in the home investigation and the opportunity for drug evaluation or treatment through the Probation Department; and Mother's current drug use was unknown.
20. That on February 11, 2008, the Monroe Circuit Court found that Mother submitted two drug sereen samples that were diluted by Mother.
21. That on February 11, 2008, the Monroe Cireuit Court ordered the Mother to participate with Monroe County Probation Officer Christine McAfee to review Mother's drug sereens and make recommendations for treatment if needed. Mother failed to attend this meeting and had not received any drug treatment or evaluation.
22. That Mother tested positive for Cocaine, Hydromorphone, Oxycodone, and Oxymorphone on 2-19-08.
23. That Mother tested positive for Morphine and Codeine on 9-17-08 and submitted a diluted sereen on said date.
24. On October 17, 2008, the Monroe Circuit Court found that [due to] Mother's drug use and failure to obtain an evaluation, visitation alone with Mother: presented a danger to the children.
25. That Mother was arrested on 4-20-09, while these adoption proceedings were pending, for dealing Heroin a class "B" Felony and Possession of a Schedule IV Controlled Substance a class "D" Felony.
26. That Mother was approximately three months pregnant
27. That the above stated charges were reduced and Mother has pled guilty to a charge of Possession and entered into the Monroe County adult drug court program. If she completes the program the charges will be dismissed.
28. That if the Mother completes said Program, she will not graduate until sometime in 2011.

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Bluebook (online)
935 N.E.2d 282, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1907, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adoption-of-kf-v-lf-indctapp-2010.