D.A. v. Monroe County Department of Child Services

869 N.E.2d 501, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 1493, 2007 WL 1989648
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 11, 2007
Docket53A01-0612-JV-526
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 869 N.E.2d 501 (D.A. v. Monroe County Department of Child Services) 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
D.A. v. Monroe County Department of Child Services, 869 N.E.2d 501, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 1493, 2007 WL 1989648 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

VAIDIK, Judge.

Case Summary

Herman Andrews (“Father”) appeals the trial court’s order terminating his parental rights to his children, Da.A., Des.A., and Deo.A. (collectively, “the Children”). Father argues that the trial court abused its discretion by granting Father’s attorney’s motion to withdraw because he did not have notice of his attorney’s motion, the motion violated local court rules, and he was prejudiced by the grant of the motion. Additionally, Father argues that the grant of his attorney’s motion violated his due process rights and his statutory right to counsel when the trial court conducted the termination hearing without Father or an attorney present. Concluding that the trial court abused its discretion by granting Father’s attorney’s motion to withdraw and that Father was denied due process because he did not have an opportunity to be heard, present evidence, or cross-examine witnesses, we reverse the trial court’s order terminating Father’s parental rights *503 and remand this case for a proper termination hearing. 1

Facts and Procedural History

Father and Lawanda Johnson (“Mother”) are not married and have three children together: Da.A., born December 27, 2002; Des.A., born November 14, 2003; and Deo.A., born May 3, 2005. When Da.A. was born in December 2002, he tested positive for cocaine and was removed from Mother, placed in foster care, and subsequently determined to be a child in need of services (“CHINS”). After Mother and Father successfully completed drug treatment programs and Father completed an anger management class, Da.A. was reunified with Mother fourteen months after he had been removed from her. 2

Around April 29, 2005, Mother, who was pregnant with Deo.A., ingested cocaine and then drove a car with two-year-old Da.A. and one-year-old Des.A. as passengers. Mother fell asleep while driving and had an accident. Mother and Da.A. and Des.A. were taken to the hospital and released. Mother had a drug screen while at the hospital and tested positive for cocaine. Four days later, on May 3, 2005, Mother gave birth to Deo.A., who tested positive for cocaine.

The Monroe County Department of Child Services (“MCDCS”) intervened and on May 11, 2005, filed a petition alleging that the Children were CHINS. The petition alleged that Deo.A. was a CHINS because he was born with drugs in his system and that Da.A. and Des.A. were CHINS based on Mother’s act of ingesting cocaine and driving her car with Da.A. and Des.A. in it. The MCDCS removed the Children from Mother’s home and placed them in foster care. 3

On May 16, 2005, Father appeared at the initial CHINS hearing, denied that the Children were CHINS, and requested counsel. The trial court granted Father’s request for counsel, and set a pretrial conference for June 20, 2005. Thereafter, Mary Jo Hamilton (“Hamilton”) entered her appearance for Father and filed a motion to continue the June 20th pretrial hearing, which the trial court granted and reset for June 27, 2005. When the trial court held the pretrial conference on June 27th, Father appeared but Hamilton did not. Father and Mother admitted that the Children were CHINS, and the trial court then determined that the Children were CHINS based on their admissions. The trial court then held the CHINS disposi-tional hearing on August 22, 2005. Father appeared at the hearing with Hamilton as counsel, and Hamilton was granted permission to withdraw as Father’s counsel following the hearing. The trial court entered a dispositional order, in which it ordered Father to, among other things, attend parenting classes, participate in home based services and the development of a case plan, complete a substance abuse treatment program, and obtain and maintain adequate housing.

Father attended weekly one-hour supervised visits with the Children but did not initially participate in any services. When *504 Father visited with the Children he brought “appropriate” toys and clothes for them. Tr. p. 71. By the time the trial court held a review hearing in November 2005, Father continued his weekly visits and had requested home-based services. Katherine Hewett, who worked for Family Solutions and supervised Father’s visits with the Children, set an appointment for Father with a family preservation provider, but Father “would not engage with her.” Id. at 47. Father, however, continued his weekly visits with the Children, and in February 2006, began working with Virshawn Champion, who was an individual therapist with Family Solutions. Champion “process[ed] with [Father] the barriers that were preventing him from being successful and proceeding with the services.” Id. at 35. After Father started working with Champion, he increased his weekly visits with the Children from one to three hours; started attending drug treatment with Meng Ai; found employment; and “workfed] on trying to figure out his housing situation.” Id. at 37. In April 2006, Meng Ai released Father from the drug treatment program because he tested positive for cocaine from a saliva test after he had told her that his test would come back “clean.” Id. at 29. Father asserted to Ai that he had not used cocaine but that it had probably entered his system because he had been around people who were smoking cocaine.

On May 12, 2006, the MCDCS filed a petition to terminate Father’s parental rights to the Children. On June 19, 2006, the trial court held an initial hearing, at which Father appeared and requested pauper counsel. 4 The trial court appointed Hamilton to again represent Father, and the MCDCS verified that it had Father’s current address in Indianapolis. The trial court informed the parties that a pretrial conference would be held on July 17, 2006, and that the termination hearing would be held on September 28, 2006.

The following day, on June 20, 2006, Hamilton entered an appearance on behalf of Father. At some point, Father scheduled an appointment to meet with Hamilton on June 29, 2006. 5 On June 26, 2006, Hamilton sent Father a letter indicating that she was going to be “out of the office on Thursday” and asking him to “reschedule [his] appointment.” Appellant’s App. p. 75. After appearing on Father’s behalf at the July 17, 2006, pretrial conference, Hamilton sent Father another letter on July 19, 2006, notifying him that his “next hearing [wa]s set for September 28, 2006,” and requesting that he call to schedule an appointment with her prior to that hearing. Id. at 76.

On September 9, 2006, the trial court rescheduled the termination hearing for October 31, 2006. The record does not reflect that the trial court sent notice of the rescheduled termination hearing to Father. 6 On September 21, 2006, Hamilton filed a motion to withdraw her appear- *505 anee. 7 In her motion, Hamilton stated that she wanted to withdraw as Father’s counsel because:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
869 N.E.2d 501, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 1493, 2007 WL 1989648, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/da-v-monroe-county-department-of-child-services-indctapp-2007.