DM v. State

2017 WY 110, 401 P.3d 949, 2017 Wyo. LEXIS 116
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 19, 2017
DocketS-17-0026
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 2017 WY 110 (DM v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
DM v. State, 2017 WY 110, 401 P.3d 949, 2017 Wyo. LEXIS 116 (Wyo. 2017).

Opinion

HILL, Justice.

[¶1] DM (Mother) gave birth to L-MHB on April 15, 2014, and the child was immediately placed in protective custody due to concerns that Mother was a danger to her and was unable to properly care for her. The juvenile court held timely shelter care, initial, and adjudicatory hearings, but there were inordinate delays in the court’s issuance of adjudication, disposition, and permanency orders.

[¶2] Mother appeals the court’s permanency order, which changed the permanency plan for L-MHB from family reunification to adoption. She contends that the order violated her due process rights, made inadequate findings, and was not supported by sufficient evidence. We affirm.

ISSUES

[¶3] Mother states the issues on appeal as:

ISSUE I
The juvenile court’s order changing permanency violated DM’s constitutional due process rights because it was entered without notice or an opportunity to be heard, counted pre-adjudication and disposition delay against DM, and failed to make the requisite statutory findings on permanency.
ISSUE II
The juvenile court erred in ordering permanency to be changed from reunification to termination and adoption as the record does not support a finding that the Department of Family Services provided reasonable efforts or that DM had not made sufficient progress on her case plan.

FACTS

[¶4] Mother gave birth to L-MHB on April 15, 2014, and on April 17, 2014, the State filed a petition alleging neglect. Attached to the State’s petition was an affidavit by the pediatrician who examined L-MHB shortly after her birth. The affidavit attested:

1. At 10:18 P.M. on April 15, 2014, [Mother] gave birth to a baby girl at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center.
2. I placed a protective hold on [Mother’s] baby because I believe that the baby would be in danger if she were to be discharged or in the hospital room with [Mother].
3. I believe the baby is in danger for the following reasons:
a. [Mother] was an inpatient on Cheyenne Regional’s Behavioral Health Unit twice during this pregnancy. Both admissions she reported suicidal tendencies. Her verbalized suicide plans ensured that the unborn baby she was pregnant with would also die.
b. During an inpatient behavioral health admission [Mother] asked staff how she could kill the baby she was carrying, and how long it would take to kill the baby.
[952]*952c. [Mother] has reported using drugs during this pregnancy.
d. [Mother] has not followed up with a mental health treatment regime despite her hospitalizations and is not currently on medication for her depression' or suicidal ideations.
e. [Mother] is unhygienic and I feel she is unable to properly care for her child.
f. ' [Mother] has relayed that she stops breathing at night and that her dog must jump on her to restart her breathing.
4. As such, I believe that the Department of FamilyServices needs to take protective custody of [Mother’s] child.

[¶6] On April 17, 2014, the juvenile court held a shelter care hearing, which was attended by Mother and her attorney. Following that hearing and on that same date, tjie court issued a shelter care order directing that legal custody of L-MHB remain with the State and that she be placed in foster care upon discharge from the hospital. On Apil 22, 2014, the court issued an order directing the Department of Family Services (DFS) to prepare a predispositional report.

[¶6] On May 8, 2014, the juvenile court held the first of two initial hearings. During that hearing, Mother’s attorney .indicated that he had a potential conflict of interest, and the court continued the proceeding to ensure Mother had counsel before admitting or denying the neglect petition allegations. Mother’s attorney also informed the court that Mother was concerned that she was being denied visitation with her child. Counsel for the State responded'to those concerns, explaining:

* * * [Mother’s Attorney] indicated that the mother’s visits have stopped. At this time, that is correct. She has been very threatening to the supervising staff at her last visit. She; displayed a knife that she had brought to the visit, and the supervisor- had safety concerns about that, She has made a number of threatening statements about murdering people, about the .State messing with the wrong family, such that the supervisors who supervise the visits have concerns for their safety, and the safety of the child.
That being said, it is-the intention of the team that works with her to try and meet with her to see if we can’t establish some ground rules so that we could begin visits again, but until that occurs, at this time we’re going to quickly run out of individuals willing to supervise her with that type of behavior. So at this time, there are no visits going on, but we hope to remedy that shortly.

[¶7] At the close of the first initial hearing, the juvenile court ordered legal custody to remain with the State and L-MHB to remain in foster care. The court also instructed Mother to cooperate with DFS and attend meetings of the multidisciplinary team (MDT).

[¶8] On May 29, 2014, the juvenile court held a second initial hearing. Mother denied the allegations of the neglect petition, informed the court .that she had not been permitted visitation with the child since the first initial hearing, and requested that visitation be resumed. Counsel for the State reported:

I do have a letter from her treating psychiatrist, which does not recommend visits at this time. I would also share with the Court that we did make efforts to see whether or not the Laramié County Sheriffs Department would be willing to participate with us in providing some assistance for supervised visits, and currently, based upon the information they’ve received, they are unwilling to do that.
So we are not in a position where we feel •that we can ensure the safety, of the child, .andwopld ask again that the Court consider at this time ordering no visitation.

[¶9] Following the second initial hearing, the juvenile court again ordered legal custody to remain with the State and L-MHB to remain in foster care. With respect to visitation, the court did not foreclose visitation, but ordered any visitation to be supervised and at the discretion of DFS and the child’s guardian ad litem (GAL).

[¶10] On July 22, 2014, the juvenile cofrrt held an adjudicatory hearing. After hearing the State’s and Mother’s evidence, the court took the adjudication under advisement. On November 20, 2014, the court held its first [953]*953statutorily required six-month review hearing.1 By the time of this first review hearing, the court had not issued an adjudication order. Additionally, Mother had married and moved to Casper, Wyoming with her new husband, and Mother’s attorney indicated that she would be filing a motion to transfer the case to Casper.2 The court commented:

Very well.

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Bluebook (online)
2017 WY 110, 401 P.3d 949, 2017 Wyo. LEXIS 116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dm-v-state-wyo-2017.