Department of Social & Health Services v. Native Village

110 Wash. App. 524
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedMarch 11, 2002
DocketNo. 48813-9-I
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 110 Wash. App. 524 (Department of Social & Health Services v. Native Village) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Department of Social & Health Services v. Native Village, 110 Wash. App. 524 (Wash. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

Agid, C.J.

— Linda Damon and the Washington Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) appeal from an order granting the Tatitlek Native Village’s CR 60(b) motion to vacate a prior court order which allowed Damon to revoke her consent to the relinquishment of her parental rights. Damon gave birth to M.D. in April 1998. About three months later, Damon voluntarily relinquished her parental rights to M.D. and DSHS filed a petition to terminate her parental rights. An order terminating the parent-child relationship was entered in due course. Almost two years later, Damon sought to revoke her consent to the termination of her parental rights. Appellants argue that under both the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and Washington law, Damon has the right to revoke her consent at any time before an order of adoption is entered. Damon also argues, in the alternative, that the consent form she signed is not enforceable.

We hold that neither ICWA nor Washington law gives Damon the right to revoke her consent to termination after a final order terminating her parental rights has been entered. However, because the language of the consent form Damon signed was misleading, Damon may be entitled to rescind her consent under the doctrine of mutual mistake. Therefore, we remand the case to the trial court to determine whether Damon can show that she would not have signed the consent form had she been properly informed about the nature of her statutory right to withdraw her consent.

FACTS

Damon gave birth to M.D. on April 6, 1998. Both Damon and M.D. are enrolled members of the federally recognized tribe of the Native Village of Tatitlek (the Tribe). Because M.D. had a positive toxicology screen for cocaine at birth, [528]*528the hospital made a referral to Children’s Protective Services. Damon admitted to using cocaine and marijuana in the weeks before she gave birth to M.D. and immediately expressed her desire to voluntarily relinquish her parental rights.1

M.D. went to the Pediatric Interim Care Center for observation and treatment for prenatal exposure to cocaine, marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco. She was released to the temporary care of her maternal aunt on May 4,1998. There were no family members in the Seattle area able to provide M.D. with a permanent home at the time, so the family contacted Chuck Totemoff and Kim Benton, who agreed to take M.D. to their home in Alaska with the expectation of adopting her. Totemoff is Damon’s first cousin and is also a member of the Tribe. M.D. has lived in Alaska with Totemoff and Benton since she was about seven weeks old.

On July 8, 1998, Damon appeared in court with counsel and executed a document entitled “Relinquishment of Custody, Consent to Termination/Adoption and Court Certification (Indian Child).” Six days later, then-Commissioner James Doerty entered an order terminating the parent-child relationship between Damon and M.D. The alleged birth father’s parental rights were terminated by default on February 22, 1999.

In late 1999, questions arose about whether the preadoptive placement of M.D. remained appropriate in light of marital conflict that had arisen between Benton and Totemoff. The trial court denied DSHS’ motion to remove M.D. from the Benton/Totemoff home but directed that the planned adoption could not proceed in Alaska until concurrent jurisdiction in Washington was established.

On June 1, 2000, nearly two years after Damon’s parental rights were terminated, Damon filed a document called “Mother’s Revocation of Consent to Termination.” About a [529]*529month later, she filed a motion to set aside the voluntary termination of her parental rights, arguing that she had an absolute right to revoke her consent before M.D. was adopted.2 DSHS supported the motion to restore Damon’s parental rights. Benton and Totemoff opposed the motion, arguing that under both ICWA and Washington’s adoption code, a consent to termination of parental rights cannot be revoked after a final order of termination is entered. On August 11, 2000, Commissioner Eric Watness denied Damon’s request, stating that allowing Damon to revoke her relinquishment two years after the termination order was entered would “fl[y] in the face of [M.D.’s] best interests.”

Damon sought revision of the Commissioner’s ruling. On November 7, 2000, Judge Julie Spector revised the Commissioner’s ruling in part, granting Damon’s motion to set aside the voluntary relinquishment of her parental rights. Judge Spector found “clear and convincing evidence to support a finding that Ms. Damon believed and relied upon her right to revoke her consent prior to an adoption order being entered.” The court reasoned that Damon’s consent to relinquish her parental rights “was void from its inception” because the language of the consent she signed was “contradictory, misleading and void.”3

On May 11, 2001, the Tribe filed a CR 60 motion seeking to set aside Judge Spector’s order and reinstate the order terminating Damon’s parental rights.4 The Tribe argued that Damon’s counsel made material factual misrepresentations to Judge Spector in the Motion for Revision of Commissioner Watness’ order. The Tribe also argued that as a critical party to the proceedings, it should have been [530]*530given an opportunity to be heard on the Motion for Revision. Judge Mary Yu agreed with the Tribe on both grounds, setting aside Judge Spector’s order and reinstating Commissioner Watness’ ruling that Damon could not revoke the relinquishment of her parental rights after an order terminating those rights had been entered.

Damon and DSHS now appeal Judge Yu’s order. The Tribe and the Court Appointed Social Advocates (CASA) are respondents here, and Totemoff and Benton have filed an amicus curiae brief.

ANALYSIS

CR 60 motions to set aside a court order “are addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court, whose judgment will not be disturbed absent a showing of a clear or manifest abuse of that discretion.”5 An abuse of discretion exists when no reasonable person would take the view adopted by the trial court.6 However, construction of a statute is a question of law that we review de novo.7

Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)

Congress passed ICWA in 1978 in response to a situation where Indian children were being removed from their birth families at a highly disproportionate rate in comparison with non-Indian children.8 ICWA formally recognized a national policy “to protect the best interests of Indian children and to promote the stability and security of Indian tribes and families by the establishment of minimum Federal standards for the removal of Indian children from their [531]*531families and the placement of such children in foster or adoptive homes which will reflect the unique values of Indian culture.”9

Under ICWA, a voluntary termination of parental rights by an Indian parent must be executed in writing, recorded before a judge, and accompanied by the judge’s certification that the terms and consequences of the consent were fully explained and fully understood by the Indian parent.10 Section 1913(c) of ICWA further provides:

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Related

In re the Welfare of J.N.
123 Wash. App. 564 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2004)
In Re JN
95 P.3d 414 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2004)
In Re Marriage of Furrow
63 P.3d 821 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2003)
In re the Marriage of Furrow
115 Wash. App. 661 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2003)
In Re MD
42 P.3d 424 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
110 Wash. App. 524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/department-of-social-health-services-v-native-village-washctapp-2002.