A.M.B. v. Greene County Juvenile Office

376 S.W.3d 1, 2011 Mo. App. LEXIS 1259
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 21, 2011
DocketNos. SD 31135, SD 31136, SD 31137, SD 31138, SD 31139
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 376 S.W.3d 1 (A.M.B. v. Greene County Juvenile Office) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
A.M.B. v. Greene County Juvenile Office, 376 S.W.3d 1, 2011 Mo. App. LEXIS 1259 (Mo. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

WILLIAM W. FRANCIS, JR., Presiding Judge.

A.M.B. (“Mother”) appeals the respective judgments1 terminating parental rights to her minor children, T.L.B., M.K.S., N.T.S., N.J.S., and K.M.S. (collectively referred to as “the Children”). Finding no merit to Mother’s points, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.2

Factual and Procedural History

While our recitation of the relevant facts is generally in accordance with the principle that the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the judgment, see In re [4]*4CAM., 282 S.W.3d 398, 401 (Mo.App. S.D.2009) and In re M_R_F_, 907 S.W.2d 787, 789 (Mo.App. S.D.1995), we also cite opposing evidence because grounds for termination must be supported by evidence that “instantly tilts the scales in favor of termination when weighed against the evidence in opposition and the finder of fact is left with the abiding conviction that the evidence is true.” In the Interest of K.A.W., 133 S.W.3d 1, 12 (Mo. banc 2004) (emphasis added).

Mother’s formal involvement with the Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services (“the Children’s Division”) began after a hotline report dated December 1, 2008, alleging “untreated illness and injury” and “lack of food.” Following an investigation, a Children’s Division’s caseworker, Nicole Bell (“Ms. Bell”), determined Mother failed to provide needed eyeglasses for N.J.S. The Children’s Division entered into a safety plan with Mother whereby she agreed to provide the eyeglasses for N.J.S.

The Children’s Division received a second report on December 8, 2008, alleging Mother had recently made threats to commit suicide and kill the Children. Ms. Bell met with Mother at the psychiatric unit of Lester E. Cox Medical Center North. During that meeting, it was discovered that in 2006 there was an incident where Mother pulled her car into the garage and left it running with the Children in the vehicle while she went into the house; she subsequently changed her mind and retrieved the Children. Additionally, while in the hospital, Mother wrote a note in crayon saying she was going to give the Children to Jesus. Further investigation revealed that on one occasion when the Children were unsupervised, a fire started in the microwave and on another occasion Mother, while the Children were passengers, drove her car through an activated railroad crossing resulting in serious injury to T.L.B.

After the December 8, 2008 incident, the Children were taken into protective custody due to abuse and neglect concerns.3 Petitions for abuse and neglect were subsequently filed due to Mother’s “emotional conditions interferfing] with her ability to parent the Children.” On December 23, 2009, the Greene County Juvenile Office filed petitions to terminate the parental rights of Mother in, to, and over the Children.

On September 7, 2010, a bench trial was held on the termination of Mother’s parental rights to the Children.

Tamara Boggess (“Ms. Boggess”), a licensed clinical social worker, testified she first became involved with Mother and the Children on August 30, 2005, due to issues involving parent separation, the Children witnessing domestic violence, and some of the Children acting out sexually. During the course of therapy, Ms. Boggess told Mother she should not leave the Children unsupervised due to their acting out sexually; however, Mother continued to leave the Children unsupervised. Ms. Boggess also testified that some of the Children reported Mother would bring various men into the home, and were aware that Mother engaged in sexual activities with some of those men.

Ms. Boggess did not have any contact with the Children between August 2006 and November 21, 2008, on which date Mother came in seeking services for [5]*5T.L.B. Ms. Boggess’ next contact with all of the Children was after their removal in December 2008. She continued seeing the Children through March 2009.

Ms. Boggess testified that during individual therapy, the Children complained of Mother’s lack of involvement with them when they were home as Mother would spend significant periods of time sleeping, on the phone, or on the computer. The Children complained of a lack of food to the point their school provided food for the family.

Ms. Boggess stated caseworker Korrie Kirk requested she sit in on the family therapeutic visits between Mother and the Children. These visits occurred from December 17, 2008 until March 10, 2009. Ms. Boggess testified that on March 18, 2009, she made the recommendation that family therapy be suspended until such time as Mother was able to make progress in individual therapy. Ms. Boggess testified there were things happening in the family sessions that outweighed the positives of Mother and the Children having physical contact. Specifically, “there were a lot of boundary stuff going on, phone on, the taping[,] ... the video camera[,] ... [and] the dirty looks that [Mother] was giving [Ms. Kirk] the caseworker ... that bothered [the Children]. Ms. Boggess stated that during the time she worked with the Children, she had no problems working with Ms. Kirk and believed Ms. Kirk’s goal was to reunite the Children with Mother.

Ms. Boggess concluded that at the time she ended her work with the family in March 2010, she did not feel Mother could parent the Children due to Mother’s continuing poor decisions and failure to make progress in therapy and parenting. Specifically, Ms. Boggess was concerned with parentification of the older children due to Mother requiring them to care for the younger children, and that the older children had expressed concern that Mother would not make the right choices, keep them safe, and provide for .them. Ms. Boggess reported that the Children were making “good progress” out of the care of Mother.

Ms. Kirk, the caseworker from Missouri Baptist Children’s Home, Children’s Family Ministries (“MBCH”), testified she was assigned the case on December 9, 2008, and she was the family’s only caseworker up to the date of hearing. Ms. Kirk testified that the initial case goal was reunification and the issues that needed to be addressed to meet the reunification goal included Mother’s mental health issues and the need for therapy, along with Mother’s parenting issues and relationship issues. To assist Mother in working on those issues, a treatment plan was prepared on January 13, 2009.

As part of the plan, Mother was to cooperate and maintain contact with MBCH, update Ms. Kirk weekly as to progress on tasks.and goals, and report any changes in address and employment or household composition within “45^8 hours of the change.” Ms. Kirk testified that Mother was not consistently cooperative. Mother did not always keep MBCH up to date as to her living arrangements. Mother was involved with an individual named “Jeremy” and was apparently living with him, but was not forthcoming with that information.4 Mother also did not inform Ms. Kirk when she lost her job at the Manor at Elfindale, when she temporarily moved out of state, when she returned to Missouri, or the fact that after her return, she would be [6]*6living with “her fiancé.” Mother consistently refused to provide a phone number.

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Bluebook (online)
376 S.W.3d 1, 2011 Mo. App. LEXIS 1259, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/amb-v-greene-county-juvenile-office-moctapp-2011.