Brown v. Arkansas Department of Human Services

2015 Ark. App. 513, 470 S.W.3d 690, 2015 Ark. App. LEXIS 583
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedSeptember 23, 2015
DocketCV-15-144
StatusPublished

This text of 2015 Ark. App. 513 (Brown v. Arkansas Department of Human Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Arkansas Department of Human Services, 2015 Ark. App. 513, 470 S.W.3d 690, 2015 Ark. App. LEXIS 583 (Ark. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

CLIFF HOOFMAN, Judge

| Appellant Anya Brown appeals from the order of the Phillips County Circuit Court terminating her parental rights to three of her children, E.H., A.H., and N.H. Brown’s attorney has filed a no-merit brief and a motion to withdraw as counsel pursuant to Rule 6 — 9(i) of the Rules of the Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals and Linker-Flores v. Arkansas Department of Human Services, 359 Ark. 131, 194 S.W.3d 739 (2004). The clerk of this court mailed a certified copy of counsel’s motion and brief to Brown’s last known address informing her- of her right to file pro se points for reversal; however, she has not done so. We grant counsel’s motion to withdraw and affirm the order of termination.

On October 7, 2011, the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) filed a petition for emergency custody of J.H. (DOB 10/2/98), E.H. (DOB 1/27/05), A.H; (DOB 8/31/06), and N.H. (DOB 12/31/08). In the affidavit attached to the petition, DHS indicated |2that it had exercised a seventy-two-hour hold on the children on October 4, 2011, after receiving a report of environmental neglect, inadequate shelter, and failure to protect. The affidavit stated that Brown’s home had no running water, feces in the toilet and in a bucket, and a sewage blockage in the sink. In addition, the affidavit asserted that J.H. had made a report of sexual abuse by her stepfather and that the two school-aged children, J.H. ■ and E.H., had not been enrolled in school since moving to Arkansas in July 2011.

The circuit court granted DHS’s petition for emergency custody on October 11, 2011, and probable cause for the removal was found on October 13, 2011. The children were adjudicated dependent-neglected on January 11, 2012, due' to improper supervision, environmental neglect, and abandonment. Brown was instructed to complete parenting classes and a psychological evaluation, attend counseling, and obtain an adequate and stable home. Supervised visitation was ordered, and the goal of the case was set as reunification, with a concurrent goal of relative placement.

At the reviéw hearing held in June 2012, the circuit court found that Brown had moved to Tennessee since the date of the last hearing but had recently returned and started following the case plan. By the time of the permanency-planning hearing in September 2012, Brown was in partial compliance with the case plan and court orders and was making significant progress, according to her cáseworker. Thus, the circuit court continued the goal of reunification with Brown, finding that the children and Brown had a strong bond, that Brown had left her husband who had sexually abused J.H., and that reunification' was likely within three months as long as Brown participated in additional individual and family counseling.

|<jThe next review hearing was held in January 2013, at which time Brown was living in a battered women’s shelter in Shreveport, Louisiana. Given Brown’s testimony that she planned to pursue services in Louisiana, including counseling, employment, and housing, the court found that she would be given additional time to comply with the case plan. Subsequent to this hearing, however, Brown moved to California. DHS filed a motion to terminate reunification services in June 2013, alleging that the children had been subjected to -aggravated circumstances in that there was little likelihood that additional services to the family would result in successful reunification. The motion further alleged that Brown had willfully refused to obtain and maintain stable housing; that she had moved four different times since the inception of the case; that she had failed to keep DHS apprised of her whereabouts; and that she had not exercised visitation on a regular basis.

In September 2013, a combination permanency-planning hearing and hearing on the motion to terminate reunification services was held. The circuit court found that DHS had proved by clear and convincing evidence that the juveniles had been subjected to aggravated circumstances based on the fact that there was little likelihood that further services to the family would result in reunification. The evidence presented at the hearing showed that Brown had not had consistent visitation with the .children because she had moved multiple times throughout the case, and she still had not obtained stable and appropriate housing. A referral was made for a home study of Brown’s residence in California, but it was not completed because Brown failed to provide all of the required information. The court therefore found that reunification services would be terminated and that the goal of the case would be changed |4to termination and adoption.

DHS filed a petition for termination of Brown’s parental rights as to E.H., A.H., and N.H. on April 9, 2014. 1 DHS alleged multiple grounds for termination pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-341(b)(3)(B) (Supp. 2013): (1) that the juveniles had been adjudicated by the court to be dependent-neglected and had continued out of the home for twelve months and, despite a meaningful effort by the department to rehabilitate the home and correct the conditions which caused removal, those conditions had not been remedied by the parent; (2) that the juveniles had lived outside of the home of the parent for a period of twelve months and the parent had willfully failed to provide significant material support in accordance with the parent’s means or to maintain meaningful contact with the juveniles; (3) that the parent had abandoned the juveniles; (4) that the parent subjected the juveniles to aggravated circumstances based on a determination by a judge that there is little likelihood that services to the family will result in successful reunification; and (5) that other factors or issues arose subsequent to the filing of the original petition for dependency-neglect that demonstrate that return of the juveniles to the custody of the parent is contrary to the juveniles’ health, safety, or welfare and that, despite the offer of appropriate family services, the parent has manifested the incapacity or indifference to remedy the subsequent issues or factors or rehabilitate the parent’s circumstances that prevent return of the juveniles to the custody of the parent. DHS further alleged that termination was in the best interest of the children.

|sThe termination hearing was held on August 27, 2014. Daphne Rayford, who was the caseworker for the family until April 2014, testified that she had provided services to Brown including transportation, supervised visitation, parenting classes, housing assistance, and referrals for counseling and a psychological evaluation. Rayford stated that Brown had completed parenting classes and the psychological evaluation but had not completed her counseling sessions. In addition, Brown had failed to maintain stable housing for the majority of the case, with the exception of a few months in 2012. Her visits with the children were also sporadic due to her numerous relocations.

Rayford testified that Brown lived in West Helena at the time the children were removed in October 2011 but that her whereabouts were unknown between November 2011 and March 2012. In March 2012, Brown contacted Rayford and informed her that she was at a women’s shelter in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

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Related

Lee v. Arkansas Department of Human Services
285 S.W.3d 277 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2008)
Linker-Flores v. Arkansas Department of Human Services
194 S.W.3d 739 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2004)
Dinkins v. Arkansas Department of Human Services
40 S.W.3d 286 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2001)
Latham v. Arkansas Department of Health & Human Services
256 S.W.3d 543 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2007)

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Bluebook (online)
2015 Ark. App. 513, 470 S.W.3d 690, 2015 Ark. App. LEXIS 583, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-arkansas-department-of-human-services-arkctapp-2015.