Department of Human Services v. J. C. H.

358 P.3d 294, 272 Or. App. 413, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 883
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJuly 22, 2015
Docket00402J; Petition Number 00402J05; A157495; 11551J; Petition Number 11551J04; A157496; 11552J; Petition Number 11552J04; A157497
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 358 P.3d 294 (Department of Human Services v. J. C. H.) 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. J. C. H., 358 P.3d 294, 272 Or. App. 413, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 883 (Or. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

EGAN, J.

In this consolidated termination of parental rights (TPR) case, father appeals a judgment terminating his parental rights to three of his four children.1 In a single assignment of error, father asserts that the record does not provide a basis for termination of his parental rights by clear and convincing evidence. Father argues that, on de novo review, ORS 19.415(3)(a), we should conclude that the juvenile court erred in terminating his parental rights, because the Department of Human Services (DHS) failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence that father “was statutorily unfit and that termination is in the children’s best interests [.]” Having reviewed the record de novo, we reject that argument without further written discussion.2 Father also argues that his parental rights cannot be terminated on conditions or circumstances extrinsic to the grounds that DHS proved at the jurisdictional hearing, as reflected in the jurisdictional judgment, because to do so would deprive father of constitutionally adequate notice “as to what, exactly, he * * * is supposed to be doing” to end DHS involvement. The juvenile court rejected that argument. We affirm, but on different grounds.

We begin with a brief discussion of the underlying facts — as we find them — leading up to the termination hearing. Father has four children: one daughter, J, and three sons. Father’s three sons are the children at issue in this case. CM was 13 years old at the time of trial. CJ, who has autism, was seven years old at the time of trial. KD was six years old at the time of trial.

Father has a lengthy history of involvement with DHS in two separate states, generally for issues relating to his mental health, inadequate or dangerous housing, substance abuse, failure to protect some or all of his children from dangerous individuals, and neglectful conditions, such as inadequate nutrition and poor cleanliness and hygiene. Father underwent a psychological evaluation and was diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder based, among [416]*416other things, on his unrealistic beliefs about his ability to solve his personal and family problems, anger management issues, and lack of understanding of how his behaviors negatively affected his children. The doctor performing the evaluation recommended that father engage in individual behavioral treatment including treatment to help father identify negative thinking patterns that lead to poor choices that place the children at risk.

In July 2012, the juvenile court took jurisdiction over all four of father’s children.3 The grounds for jurisdiction primarily involved father’s inability to protect his daughter, J, from multiple instances of sexual abuse and the children’s exposure to incidents of domestic violence between father and his live-in girlfriend. After taking jurisdiction over all four children, DHS removed J from the home, but allowed the three boys to remain with father. At the outset, father participated adequately in services and kept his home at or above community cleanliness standards. Approximately one month after the court took jurisdiction, the two youngest children, KD and CJ, climbed out of an unlocked bedroom window while father was asleep. The boys were four and five years old at the time. They travelled approximately 400 yards from their house.

A passersby found the two boys roaming and playing in the middle of the “well-traveled” and “busy” roadway with a 35-mile-per-hour speed limit that runs near their house. Both children were wearing dirty clothes and had dirt “caked on” their faces; it appeared that they had not recently been bathed. CJ was wearing a soiled diaper, a shirt, and socks. He was not wearing pants or shoes. An officer changed CJ’s diaper, finding dried feces around his buttocks and genitals, which had become inflamed and painful. [417]*417Father had no knowledge that CJ and KD had left the house and gave officers, social workers, and the courts various accounts of when he had last checked on the children. Although the window was not locked, father had installed a child-safety gate with a pressure lock to prevent the children from leaving the front porch of the house. However, the gate did not present an obstacle to the boys.

At the termination trial, the officer who returned CJ and KD to the home testified about the conditions of the house, explaining that the house was “very dirty,” and that he saw pet feces “all over” the living area, spoiled food sitting out on the counter, and a complete lack of bedding for the children. He noted that the children did have mattresses. He also described seeing several empty beer cans lying around and a sharp knife laying on the floor in reach of the children. Father attempted to explain the condition of the house, testifying that it had been extremely hot in the house, so he and the children spent their time outdoors but had continued placing trash inside the house.

As a result of that incident and the condition of the house, the juvenile court exercised jurisdiction over the three boys on two additional grounds.4 DHS removed CM, CJ, and KD from father’s care and placed them in substitute care, where they have been since that time. [418]*418Police also arrested father. He was ultimately convicted of one count of first-degree criminal mistreatment, and two counts of second-degree child neglect. He was sentenced to 25 months in prison, with a three-year term of post-prison supervision.

After his conviction and incarceration on the criminal mistreatment and child neglect charges, father enrolled in an alternative-incarceration program, in which he could obtain early release upon successful completion of the program. Father was ultimately removed from the program because of a lack of accountability for his crimes, among other things. Father completed a cognitive-treatment program, a parenting course, a faith-based life-training program, and a faith-based addiction program. Although at least one of those programs included some cognitive treatment, none of those programs included individual behavioral therapy to address father’s personality disorder.

After the three boys were initially placed in substitute care, DHS permitted father to visit them, but visits were eventually terminated once father was incarcerated on the child-neglect and criminal-mistreatment convictions.

CM was 12 years old when he was first placed in foster care. At that time, he did not know how to perform basic tasks of daily living, such as taking a shower, drying off, or dressing himself in clean clothes. He could not tie his shoes or cut meat with a knife. CM hid food in his bedroom, had problems socializing with other children, and had an anger-management problem. He appeared depressed and anxious, expressed constant worry about his family and siblings, and was placed separately because of his “parentification,” or belief that he needed to care for and parent his siblings. After a neuropsychological evaluation, CM was diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorder, and history of abuse and neglect.

C J was five years old when DHS placed him in substitute care. As indicated, CJ has autism and had not been toilet trained. C J’s ability to speak was severely limited; he [419]*419could communicate with “very few” words.

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Related

Department of Human Services v. T. L.
379 P.3d 741 (Marion County Circuit Court, Oregon, 2016)
Department of Human Services v. J. C. H.
361 P.3d 610 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
358 P.3d 294, 272 Or. App. 413, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 883, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/department-of-human-services-v-j-c-h-orctapp-2015.