Department of Human Services v. D. A. N.

308 P.3d 303, 258 Or. App. 64, 2013 WL 4104330, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 969
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedAugust 14, 2013
DocketJ110701; Petition Numbers 112111NYE1, 082812NYE1; A153296
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 308 P.3d 303 (Department of Human Services v. D. A. N.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Department of Human Services v. D. A. N., 308 P.3d 303, 258 Or. App. 64, 2013 WL 4104330, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 969 (Or. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

WOLLHEIM, J.

In this juvenile dependency case, father appeals from a judgment of the juvenile court changing the permanency plan for his daughter E from reunification to adoption. We conclude that the juvenile court did not err and affirm.

The parties do not ask for de novo review, and we conclude that this is not an exceptional case that warrants exercise of our discretion to review de novo. See ORS 19.415(3)(b) (providing for discretionary de novo review of certain equitable actions); ORAP 5.40(8)(c) (the court will exercise discretion to try the cause anew on the record only in exceptional cases). Accordingly, we view the evidence, as supplemented and buttressed by permissible derivative inferences, in the light most favorable to the trial court’s disposition and assess whether, when so viewed, the record was legally sufficient to permit that outcome. Dept. of Human Services v. N. P., 257 Or App 633, 307 P3d 444 (2013).

E was born on August 12, 2011. The Department of Human Services (DHS) removed E from mother’s care in November 2011 and asserted jurisdiction over E on January 4, 2012, based on mother’s substance abuse. On May 16, 2012, based partly on mother’s decision to allow E to remain with her current caretakers and be adopted, the juvenile court changed the permanency plan for E from reunification to adoption.

Shortly before E’s birth, father began serving a 2 3-month prison term for drug crimes and for providing false information to police. As of May 2012, father had not been identified as E’s father, but he notified DHS that he believed that he was E’s father.

In August 2012, father’s paternity was established. On September 26, 2012, father stipulated to allegations of a jurisdictional petition that he was incarcerated and unable to be a custodial resource for E. On November 1, 2012, the juvenile court determined as a stipulated additional ground for jurisdiction that father’s substance abuse impairs his judgment and interferes with his ability to safely parent E.

[66]*66In the months between father beginning his incarceration and when paternity was established, father had been disciplined six times in prison. Soon after his paternity was established, father entered into an action agreement with DHS in which he agreed to engage in any remedial services available while he was in prison, to comply with prison conduct requirements, and to maintain contact with DHS. Father participated in Narcotics Anonymous meetings and took a certification course to become a flagger, but due to the brevity of his remaining prison term, he was not able to enroll in parenting or drug treatment programs.

On November 27, 2012, the juvenile court held a hearing on DHS’s motion to change E’s permanency plan from reunification to adoption.1 Father opposed the motion, arguing that his progress had been sufficient, that his projected release date from prison was March 6, 2013, and that a compelling reason, therefore, existed to defer changing the plan to adoption. Father estimated that, realistically, it would take him four to six months after his March 2013 release to prepare to care for E and that he would not be available to care for her until July 2013, when E would be almost two years old.

Because this case involves a question of statutory interpretation and whether the juvenile court’s judgment complied with the pertinent statutes, we digress for a moment to describe the relevant statutory provisions that governed the juvenile court’s decision. ORS 419B.476 describes the findings and determinations that the juvenile court must and may make at the permanency hearing and in a permanency judgment, depending on the facts in play and permanency plan in place at the time of the hearing. ORS 419B.476(2) through (4) describe the findings and determinations that the court must and may make at the permanency hearing. Under ORS 419B.476(2)(a),2 when, as here, [67]*67the permanency plan in place at the time of the hearing is to reunify the family, the court is required to make findings at the permanency hearing as to whether DHS has made reasonable efforts to reunify the family and as to whether the parent has made sufficient progress to allow the child to be returned home safely. In making its determination, the court must consider the child’s health and safety to be the paramount concerns. Id.

ORS 419B.476(5) describes the contents of the order that the juvenile court must issue within 20 days of the permanency hearing. The order must include all of the findings and determinations that the court makes at the hearing pursuant to ORS 419B.476(2) through (4). ORS 419B.476(5) (a). Also, under ORS 419B.476(5)(b), the court’s order is required to include the court’s determination as to the permanency plan that will be in place for the child, including:

“whether and, if applicable, when:
“(A) The ward will be returned to the parent;
“(B) The ward will be placed for adoption, and a petition for termination of parental rights will be filed;
“(C) The ward will be referred for establishment of legal guardianship; or
“(D) The ward will be placed in another planned permanent living arrangement [.]”

ORS 419B.476(5)(b).

Additionally, ORS 419B.476(5)(c) to (i) describe the determinations, pertaining to specific types of permanency plans, that the juvenile court must include in its order. For example:

“(c) If the court determines that the permanency plan for the ward should be to return home because further efforts will make it possible for the ward to safely return home within a reasonable time, the court’s determination of the services in which the parents are required to participate, [68]*68the progress the parents are required to make and the period of time within which the specified progress must be made;
“(d) If the court determines that the permanency plan for the ward should be adoption, the court’s determination of whether one of the circumstances in ORS 419B.498(2) is applicable[.]”

(Emphasis added.)

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Related

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Dept. of Human Services v. L. S.
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Department of Human Services v. T. M. S.
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
308 P.3d 303, 258 Or. App. 64, 2013 WL 4104330, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 969, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/department-of-human-services-v-d-a-n-orctapp-2013.