Department of Human Services v. D. I. R.

395 P.3d 970, 285 Or. App. 60, 2017 WL 1489039, 2017 Ore. App. LEXIS 510
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedApril 26, 2017
Docket15JU03845; A163181
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 395 P.3d 970 (Department of Human Services v. D. I. R.) 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. I. R., 395 P.3d 970, 285 Or. App. 60, 2017 WL 1489039, 2017 Ore. App. LEXIS 510 (Or. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

DeVORE, J.

Mother and father appeal a juvenile court judgment changing the permanency plan for their daughter, K, from reunification with parents to adoption. First, the court determined that, although the Department of Human Services (DHS) had made reasonable efforts to reunify K with parents, mother and father had not made sufficient progress for K to be safely returned to parents’ care at the time of the permanency hearing and that further efforts would not make it possible for K to safely return home in a reasonable time. ORS 419B.476(2)(a), (4)(c), (5)(c). Second, the court determined that there were no compelling reasons for DHS to delay filing a petition to terminate parents’ parental rights and proceeding with adoption. ORS 419B.498(2)(b). Mother and father challenge the court’s determinations on the grounds that, given the progress they have made and will make through participation in services, K can safely return home in a reasonable time. We conclude that because there is sufficient evidence in the record to support the determinations of the juvenile court, the court did not err in changing the permanency plan to adoption.

I. BACKGROUND

In reviewing those determinations, we view the evidence, as supplemented by permissible derivative inferences, in the light most favorable to the juvenile court’s disposition, and we 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, 639, 307 P3d 444 (2013).1

A. DHS History

Mother and father each have extensive involvement with child welfare services. Mother, with different partners, has four other minor children in Texas who were removed from her care due to substance abuse, neglect, and domestic violence. Father, with a different partner, has three other [63]*63children who were removed from his care because of substance abuse, neglect, and domestic violence.

By the age of five, K had already been removed twice by DHS from parents’ care, and a third removal would follow. She was removed first due to parents’ substance abuse, neglect, domestic violence, and mental health issues. Although parents initially participated in services, and were separated from each other, mother continued to abuse substances after the family reunited. K was removed next after a recliner in mother’s home caught fire due to a cigarette. Mother had been so unresponsive from her medications or other substances during the fire that neighbors had to drag her and K out. Following her removal to substitute care, K was again returned to parents’ care.

B. Jurisdiction Over K

In June 2015, DHS received a call about domestic violence between K’s parents. Mother reported to a neighbor that father had used methamphetamine and assaulted her and that she was afraid to return home. Father was arrested for fourth-degree assault, menacing, harassment, driving under the influence of intoxicants, and possession of methamphetamine. Arriving unannounced, DHS workers met with mother at home and smelled marijuana and alcohol. Mother had rapid and slurred speech and an inability to formulate complex ideas, leading the workers to suspect that she was under the influence of intoxicants. Mother told the DHS workers that she was drinking a beer or two every few days, smoking marijuana, and not taking her prescribed mental health medications. Mother was no longer participating in services for her mental health and substance abuse, as recommended in her previous DHS case. Mother described father as “very controlling in their relationship.” DHS removed K, placing her in protective custody.

In its Protective Custody Report, DHS noted recent psychological evaluations in which Dr. Basham diagnosed both parents with various disorders. Mother’s diagnosis included “PTSD; alcohol use disorder, moderate in partial remission; cannabis use disorder, moderate in early remission; bipolar I disorder; [and] attention deficit hyperactivity [64]*64disorder. Dependent personality traits, rule out personality disorder.” Dr. Basham diagnosed father with “rule out explosive disorder, rule out substance abuse/alcohol disorder, narcissistic and antisocial personality traits.”

DHS petitioned the juvenile court to take jurisdiction over K. After a hearing in August 2015, the juvenile court took jurisdiction on the following bases, as pertinent to this appeal:

“The father has engaged in domestic violence against the mother which poses a safety risk to the child.
“The father’s substance abuse, if left untreated, interferes with his ability to safely parent.
“The mother’s substance abuse interferes with her ability to safely parent, if left untreated.
“The mother’s mental health condition, if left untreated, interferes with her ability to safely parent.
“The mother needs additional domestic violence treatment in order to safely parent her child.”

The juvenile court continued K’s placement in foster care, where she had been placed since the June 2015 incident. The court ordered reunification with parents as K’s primary case plan. And, the court also ordered that mother and father, among other things, complete drug and alcohol evaluations, psychological evaluations, and domestic violence and batterer’s counseling, as well as mental health treatment.

C. Permanency Hearing

In August 2016, the juvenile court held a permanency hearing. DHS requested a 90-day extension of the reunification plan to continue to work with parents. Mother supported the request. Father sought a 120-day extension on the ground that more time would be helpful. Disagreeing, the child, through counsel, and the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) asked the court to change K’s plan from reunification to adoption.

At the time of the permanency hearing, the record showed that parents had continued to attend all of their court-ordered services, and mother had achieved a year of sobriety. Nonetheless, DHS expressed concerns that “[t]hese [65]*65parents have had [K] removed 3 times and while they do very well in services, once DHS steps away, they return to their old patterns of substance abuse and domestic violence.” According to DHS, this meant that K should not be returned home at that time because DHS needed to continue monitoring mother and father for “demonstrated change.”

As for father, a psychological evaluation in March 2016 expressed concerns that his domestic violence treatment program incorrectly identified his behavior as situational couples violence rather than “coercive controlling behavior.” Dr. Wilson specifically recommended:

“To this end, [father] needs to continue to engage in the services he is currently attending and follow all recommendations and requirements of treatment. It needs to be confirmed that his domestic violence treatment program has accurately assessed his behavior as coercive controlling behavior and not situational couples violence.

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Related

Dept. of Human Services v. M. N. B.
346 Or. App. 440 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2026)
Dept. of Human Services v. S. M. S.
342 Or. App. 343 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2025)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
395 P.3d 970, 285 Or. App. 60, 2017 WL 1489039, 2017 Ore. App. LEXIS 510, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/department-of-human-services-v-d-i-r-orctapp-2017.