Bryant v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs.

554 S.W.3d 295
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedJune 20, 2018
DocketNo. CV-18-25
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 554 S.W.3d 295 (Bryant v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs.) 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
Bryant v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs., 554 S.W.3d 295 (Ark. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

In the order resulting from that permanency-planning hearing, the trial court found the following:

As to Ryan Bryant, he has again shown himself to be untrustworthy. The Court has made specific findings in the past that Mr. Bryant is not credible. The Court again today makes a specific finding that Mr. Ryan Bryant is not a credible individual and the Court can put very little weight in Mr. Bryant's testimony. This is a serious, substantial issue. The Court cannot trust what Mr. Bryant says.
To cite a specific example, Mr. Bryant was not honest about his living arrangements. The Court referred to its notes from February 21, 2017, and Mr. Bryant today directly contradicted the testimony given then. This is a material misrepresentation that involves several major issues concerning his house and others living in the home as well as the true nature of his relationship with those persons in the home and where he wants to have the child [Z.B.] placed.
He previously testified that the house he was in was leased to him, in his name, and his girlfriend was living with him in his home. The home study of that home, accepted into evidence today, revealed that the home was not leased to him but rather to the woman he claimed was his girlfriend, who is now no longer his girlfriend. Further, she said it was her intention to have him move from the home.
It is also notable that all of this information was gathered from her, not him; he was not forthcoming about any of these issues. Apparently, he would *300have allowed his misrepresentations to stand.
As it turns out, he is now staying with someone else, has placed his belongings in storage, and says he is moving into a new apartment tomorrow, which will necessitate the third home study the Department will have to undertake on Mr. Bryant's behalf.
The Court cannot place a child in a home if material issues about the home are being lied about. When confronted with his previous contradictory testimony, Mr. Bryant continued to lie. This is only the most recent example of Mr. Bryant's lack of credibility.
Further, Mr. Bryant admitted today that the juvenile [Z.B.], while in his care, did see Annette Hughes, despite the Court's clear order of No Contact. Mr. Bryant claims this was inadvertent and was merely happenstance. The Court does not believe Mr. Bryant's assertion that this was just a coincidence.
Mr. Bryant cannot be believed, as the Court continues to find. Mr. Bryant has shown he cannot be trusted. Ms. Hughes is a toxic individual. Any contact with her carries a high likelihood of negative consequences and the Court could not have been any more clear at the termination of parental rights hearing that No Contact with Ms. Hughes should be allowed by anyone.
Yet, here we are and the Court is asked to accept that contact occurred but should be excused and overlooked as mere chance. The Court can't overlook it and certainly won't excuse it. This contact occurred on Mr. Bryant's watch and represents another major issue, this one going directly to the child's immediate well-being. Mr. Bryant has allowed the toxic Ms. Hughes access to [Z.B.] and that's a fact and the Court believes he would allow it again.
This, combined with his lack of trustworthiness, places him in an almost insurmountable position to regain his child; certainly, not in any reasonable period of time. This case is already two years old.
The Court is changing [Z.B.'s] goal to adoption and is setting the next hearing as a termination of parental rights hearing for Mr. Bryant. Termination is not a foregone conclusion and the Department shall continue to offer services to Mr. Bryant in the interim. He may have supervised visits at DHS and the Department shall conduct a home study on the new apartment once Mr. Bryant has moved in and stated his intent to reside there for the foreseeable future.

DHS filed a third petition to terminate parental rights on July 11, 2017. As to appellant, DHS alleged several grounds for termination under Arkansas Code Annotated section 9-27-341(b)(3)(B) (Supp. 2017), including the failure-to-remedy, subsequent-factors, and aggravated-circumstances grounds, and a termination hearing was held on September 15, 2017.

At the termination hearing, Jessica Warren, an adoption specialist, testified that it was her opinion that Z.B. was adoptable and that it would be in Z.B.'s best interest to be adopted.

Danielle Kimbrough testified that she supervised the family-services worker who was currently assigned to the case, Alexandria Forte, and Forte's predecessor, Kawachii Williams. Kimbrough explained that Bryant had exercised visitation throughout the case but missed some visits due to work schedules.

Alexandria Forte testified regarding the case history and explained that she thought it was in Z.B.'s best interest to gain some type of stability and permanency *301as the case had been open for over two years. She explained that there were safety concerns with placing Z.B. in appellant's care as she did not know if appellant would continue to allow Z.B. to see Hughes if that was done. She noted that the court had already found Hughes to be toxic and an unfit parent. DHS was unable to conduct a trial placement during the pendency of the case due to the concern about the previous home study and then the allegations, which were later found to be true, that appellant was allowing Z.B. to see Hughes during unsupervised visitations. Therefore, Forte opined, there had been little progress made. On cross-examination, Forte admitted that appellant's most recent home study was favorable and that appellant was employed. Forte explained that there were three bedrooms in the new home and that appellant had told her only one other person was living in the home. However, she had not seen the lease.

Appellant testified that he had been living in his most recent home for approximately three months and that he has other children. Appellant admitted that another child, whom he thought was his son, had been adjudicated dependent-neglected after the child was removed from his mother's care. Appellant explained that he was not present at the time of the injury, but he was told that the child had been burned in a bathtub. After DNA testing, it was discovered that appellant is not that child's biological father.

Appellant testified that he was employed as a restaurant manager and that he was currently leasing his home. He denied that the encounter between Z.B. and Hughes was planned and stated that the encounter lasted no more than a couple of seconds.

After the hearing, the trial court terminated appellant's parental rights. In the termination order, the trial court found by clear and convincing evidence that it was in the child's best interest to terminate appellant's parental rights. It stated that it considered the likelihood that the child would be adopted and the potential harm to the child's health and safety by returning the child to appellant. As to appellant, the trial court found that DHS had proved by clear and convincing evidence the three grounds alleged in the petition for termination of parental rights, including the failure-to-remedy, subsequent-factors, and aggravated-circumstances grounds under Arkansas Code Annotated section 9-27-341(b)(3)(B).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
554 S.W.3d 295, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bryant-v-ark-dept-of-human-servs-arkctapp-2018.