Dowdy v. Arkansas Department of Human Services

314 S.W.3d 722, 2009 Ark. App. 180, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 229
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 11, 2009
DocketCA 08-1112
StatusPublished
Cited by81 cases

This text of 314 S.W.3d 722 (Dowdy v. Arkansas Department of Human Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dowdy v. Arkansas Department of Human Services, 314 S.W.3d 722, 2009 Ark. App. 180, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 229 (Ark. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinions

COURTNEY HUDSON HENRY, Judge.

| Appellants Carmal Renee Dowdy and Walter Dowdy appeal from the order of the Craighead County Circuit Court terminating their parental rights to their daughter, S.D., whose date of birth is December 15, 2006. For reversal, the Dowdys contend that the trial court’s decision is not supported by the evidence, both as to the grounds for the termination and the court’s findings regarding the best interest of the child. Based on the standard of review and the applicable law, we must affirm.

This case began on February 5, 2007, when appellee, the Department of Human Services (DHS), took emergency custody of S.D., who was almost two months old. DHS acted in response to a telephone call placed by Mr. Dowdy to the Child Abuse Hotline. The affidavit in support of the emergency petition indicated that S.D. was not being fed properly. |2Mrs. Dowdy would mix eight ounces of formula, feed the child half, and then properly discard the remainder. However, mixing too much formula ultimately caused the Dow-dys to run out of formula, which prompted Mr. Dowdy to call the Child Abuse Hotline for assistance in the middle of the night. Mr. Dowdy was not able to understand Mrs. Dowdy’s explanation that they had a voucher for formula that could have been used to resolve this problem. The affidavit also reported that the Dowdys disclosed that they had also run out of formula in January. As a result, they fed the child non-dairy coffee creamer mixed with water for a week. When DHS took S.D. for a physical examination, her stool was solid white, which the doctor attributed to her being fed coffee creamer. The court granted the petition for emergency custody and later found probable cause for the child’s removal. On March 29, 2007, the trial court adjudicated S.D. dependent-neglected based on nutritional neglect.1 The court set reunification as the goal of the case plan.

In the months that followed, DHS provided the Dowdys an array of services, including parenting classes, referrals, drug screens, transportation, home visits, homemaker services, and visitation that occurred in their home. Specifically, Mr. Dowdy received training provided by the Center for Fathers and Families, and Mrs. Dowdy engaged in intensive parenting classes offered by PACES.

| ¡¡The Dowdys also received psychological evaluations. The results of the evaluations showed that Mr. Dowdy and Mrs. Dowdy functioned with diminished mental capacity and that Mr. Dowdy’s limitations were more pronounced than those of Mrs. Dowdy. For this reason, both received social-security disability benefits, which were their only source of income. Mr. Dowdy’s evaluation reported a history of brain damage since birth. His test scores indicated significantly low intellectual development and serious deficits in social comprehension and verbal skills. Mr. Dowdy’s profile reflected an individual who has difficulty with reasoning and who is prone to exploitation, confusion, and lapses in judgment. The evaluation report stated that Mr. Dowdy may have difficulty understanding spoken language and difficulty processing verbally-mediated information. With respect to Mrs. Dowdy, the evaluator wrote that she was notably simplistic with a tendency toward social naivety and that Mrs. Dowdy deferred to Mr. Dowdy on a number of issues. The report stated that indications of social and cultural deprivation, coupled with her low intellectual level, yielded substantial difficulties in safe parenting. The evaluator felt that, with favorable supports in place, Mrs. Dowdy might be able to effectively care for S.D.

The trial court held a permanency-planning hearing on January 15, 2008. The trial court found that DHS had made reasonable efforts to assist in reunification and that the Dowdys had complied with the case plan. Nevertheless, the court changed the goal of the case plan from reunification to the termination of parental rights. DHS filed a petition to terminate the Dowdys’ parental rights on February 20, 2008.

| ⅜At the termination hearing held on May 13, 2008, the trial court reviewed letters written by social-service professionals who had provided direct assistance to the Dowdys. The Executive Director of the Center for Fathers and Families informed the court that he recommended the termination of parental rights in light of “the tremendous safety issues and significant mental capacity challenges that I have observed.” The director stated that Mr. Dowdy was eager to learn but that he had to repeat classes on the same subject and that it was as if Mr. Dowdy “didn’t hear what we said the last time.” The caseworker at PACES also advised against reunification at that time. For a year, the caseworker visited the Dowdys three or four times a month, and in her letter, she wrote that the Dowdys at times lacked the mental capacity to fully provide for the child. She reported that Mr. Dowdy sought help with Arkansas Rehabilitation Services in the hope of finding employment, but this organization deemed him mentally unable to obtain a job or to benefit from their services. The caseworker had discussed with the Dowdys ways to save money, but she had not seen any positive results from that effort.

The trial court also admitted into evidence an evaluation status note from Mid-South Health Systems, Inc., concerning treatment Mr. Dowdy received there. The report noted that it was Mr. Dowdy’s seventh admission since 1989, and it listed diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder, mood disorder with obsessive traits due to brain injury, and mild mental retardation.

The trial court also listened to the testimony of witnesses, including Sylvia Richards, | Rwho was the court appointed special advocate volunteer assigned to instruct the case. Ms. Richards identified the Dowdys’ problems in feeding and dressing S.D. She alluded to the Dowdys’ feeding the child coffee creamer. She also described how they changed S.D.’s clothes at the beginning and end of every visitation, which caused them difficulty because they would not unfasten the snaps on the child’s clothing. Ms. Richards said that the Dow-dys were polite and receptive to suggestions but that it was a constant struggle to instruct them because it was necessary to repeat the same suggestions every week. She testified that, over the course of time, the instructions that the Dowdys received one week might not apply the next, and she had concerns about their ability to adapt to changing circumstances. She also expressed concern about their ability to supervise a toddler in terms of being aware of potential dangers. She spoke of a time when the child crawled too closely to a television set that sat low and on an unstable base, and she said that Mr. Dowdy did not appreciate the potential for danger and did nothing to stop the child.

Ms. Richards testified that, as the child grew older, she perceived that the Dowdys would need immediate, substantial, and ongoing assistance if the child were to live in the home. She said that the ideal situation would be for the Dowdys to live in a duplex with someone next door and available to them twenty-four hours a day. She explored the possibility of having a relative or a member of the Dowdys’ church provide twenty-four-hour-a-day assistance, but to no avail. Ms. Richards testified that DHS did everything in its power to help the Dowdys achieve reunification, and she knew of no additional services | fithat could be offered to achieve that goal. She said that DHS had even suggested an assisted-living facility but that the Dowdys flatly rejected that recommendation.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
314 S.W.3d 722, 2009 Ark. App. 180, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 229, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dowdy-v-arkansas-department-of-human-services-arkctapp-2009.