Department of Human Services v. F. J. S

315 P.3d 433, 259 Or. App. 565
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 27, 2013
Docket090925J; 090925J05; A153174
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 315 P.3d 433 (Department of Human Services v. F. J. S) 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. F. J. S, 315 P.3d 433, 259 Or. App. 565 (Or. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

ORTEGA, P. J.

Father appeals a judgment terminating his parental rights to F on grounds of unfitness. ORS 419B.504. When F was one month old, the Department of Human Services (DHS) placed him and his half-siblings, P and H (mother’s children from a previous relationship) in protective custody. At the time, mother stipulated that her mental health problems, lack of stable housing, and use of marijuana created a risk of harm to all three children.1 Father stipulated that he had a history of substance abuse and domestic violence against mother and that he lacked safe and stable housing, all of which impaired his ability to competently parent F. Several months later, after both parents had engaged in services, DHS returned P and H to mother’s care and F to father’s care. Mother, P, and H moved in with father and F a few months later, but after an incident in which father became angry and struck P, DHS removed all three children from the home. From that point until the termination trial, father engaged in additional services, but failed to complete his anger management class and continued to exhibit an inability to control his anger.

DHS petitioned for the termination of father’s parental rights in January 2012, and the case was tried over several days in July and August of that year. The court terminated father’s parental rights, concluding that his anger and impulsiveness rendered him unfit as a parent and that F could not be reintegrated into his home within a reasonable time. On de novo review, we agree that, at the time of trial, father continued to exhibit volatility and problems controlling his anger, that those conditions were seriously detrimental to F, and that, given the persistence of those problems and F’s need for permanency, F could not be reintegrated into father’s home within a reasonable time. Accordingly, we affirm.

[568]*568I. FACTS

We find the following facts on de novo review. ORS 19.415(3)(a). We include facts that relate to mother and to F’s half-siblings, P and H, to the extent that those facts are relevant to the issues on appeal in this case.

A. Background and initial DHS involvement; father’s engagement in services.

Father had a chaotic upbringing. He suffered physical abuse at the hands of his father (grandfather), who also abused alcohol. Father estimated that he had been in “400 to 600” fights as a youth, had engaged in cruelty to animals, and had frequent police contact as a juvenile, including arrests for drug possession, trespassing, and burglary. As a result of those arrests, he spent time on probation and underwent substance abuse treatment. Father was expelled from school in the tenth grade for fighting and possession of a knife, and was later kicked out of the military for underage drinking and driving under the influence of alcohol. Father also reported that he was charged with assault in 2004 for “physical aggression” against his domestic partner, but that his conviction was “diverted” after he agreed to participate in a batterer intervention program; he completed that program in 2005. Father acknowledged a history of physical aggression towards female domestic partners, as well as several incidents of verbally abusing mother, including one incident, in the spring of 2009, in which he pushed her.

Father and mother met in October 2008. Mother had two children, P and H, with her husband D, who was then incarcerated, but she and father became a couple and moved into father’s parents’ home in February 2009. Mother gave birth to F the following August while she was still married to D; father’s paternity was established a few months later.

About two weeks after F’s birth, DHS conducted a safety assessment because mother, who is bipolar, had stopped taking her medications and had expressed worry that she would harm her children and herself. DHS put a “safety plan” in place that allowed the children to stay in the home, with the grandparents acting as “safety service provider” and the “eyes and ears” of DHS. However, mother [569]*569soon left the grandparents’ house because she did not feel safe around father, and moved into a hotel with P and H. Almost immediately, she contacted DHS and admitted to the agency that she could not care for the children and that they should be placed outside of her care while she received mental health treatment. DHS took P and H into protective custody and placed them in a foster home.

DHS then met with father, who still had F in his care. DHS agreed with father that F would be left at the grandparents’ house if mother and father signed over guardianship of F to grandparents. Shortly thereafter, however, father called DHS because he had concerns that F might be at risk at the grandparents’ house because of grandfather’s alcohol abuse. Father also admitted that he abused alcohol and marijuana, struggled with anger management, and had committed acts of domestic violence, all of which prevented him from being an appropriate parenting resource. Father was very open and willing to engage in services to address those problems. DHS then took protective custody of F and placed him in a foster home.

The juvenile court took jurisdiction over the children and established a wardship in October 2009. In particular, the court took jurisdiction as to father based on his stipulation that he had a history of domestic violence with mother, that he lacked safe and stable housing, and that he had a history of substance abuse that impaired his ability to safely parent F. DHS referred father for an addiction recovery screening and conditioned F’s return to father on father’s ability to find safe and stable housing, address his substance abuse problems, and understand how his anger and aggression affected F. In addition, the juvenile court ordered father, among other things, to participate in a drug and alcohol evaluation, drug and alcohol treatment if recommended, a batterer intervention program, and parent education classes.

Parents were involved in an incident of domestic violence that same month. A police officer received a radio call to respond to a Portland club because father had threatened mother with physical violence. At the club, mother explained to the officer that earlier that evening father had been drinking and “talking negatively to her about their relationship.” [570]*570Father pushed mother and mother pushed him back. The couple proceeded to the club and continued to drink. Father again spoke negatively about their relationship, and, when he asked mother a question and mother simply nodded her head, father retorted, “Don’t nod your head or I’ll break your neck.” Mother left the club and somebody called the police. The officer took a report and transported mother to a DHS facility.

There was an additional report of domestic violence between mother and father a couple of months later. Mother filed a complaint with the police that father had threatened harm to her in a grocery store parking lot on a day when they both had been drinking. However, mother was later charged with filing a false police report after she told police that she had “made up the report.”

Beginning in November 2009, father engaged in intensive outpatient drug and alcohol treatment with Lifeworks NW.

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Bluebook (online)
315 P.3d 433, 259 Or. App. 565, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/department-of-human-services-v-f-j-s-orctapp-2013.