D.V. v. Colbert County Department of Human Resources

121 So. 3d 370, 2012 WL 6554398, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 343
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedDecember 14, 2012
Docket2110590 and 2110591
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 121 So. 3d 370 (D.V. v. Colbert County Department of Human Resources) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
D.V. v. Colbert County Department of Human Resources, 121 So. 3d 370, 2012 WL 6554398, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 343 (Ala. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

MOORE, Judge.

D.V. (“the mother”) and W.C.C., Sr. (“the father”), separately appeal from a judgment of the Colbert Circuit Court terminating their parental rights to W.C.C., Jr. (“the child”), who was born on March 20, 2008. We affirm.

Background

In April 2008, the Colbert County Department of Human Resources (“the Colbert County DHR”) filed in the Colbert Juvenile Court (“the juvenile court”) a dependency petition asserting that the child had tested positive for narcotics at his birth and that two safety plans that had [372]*372been put into place by the Colbert County DHR with the mother had failed.1 That dependency action was assigned case no. JU-08-141.01. The Colbert County DHR was awarded custody of the child, and the child was placed with foster parents, L.S. and T.S., who lived in Lauderdale County. L.S., the foster father, was at that time and at all times relevant to this appeal employed by the Lauderdale County Department of Human Resources (“the Laud-erdale County DHR”); he supervises caseworkers assigned to the foster-care and protective-care units in the Lauderdale County DHR office.

On July 14, 2009, the Colbert County DHR filed a petition seeking to terminate the parental rights of the mother and the father to the child. That termination petition was assigned case no. JU-08-141.02.

On February 4, 2010, after an ore tenus hearing, the juvenile court entered a judgment terminating the parental rights of the mother and the father. The mother and the father separately appealed from that judgment to this court.2 The juvenile court determined that the record could not be certified as adequate for an appeal, and, as a result, this court, pursuant to Rule 28(D), Ala. R. Juv. P., transferred the cause to the Colbert Circuit Court (“the circuit court”) for a trial de novo. The circuit-court action was assigned case no. CV-10-107; however, the parties also refer to the proceedings before the circuit court as case no. JU-08-141.03.

Beginning in November 2011 and concluding in February 2012, the circuit court conducted a four-day ore tenus hearing on the Colbert County DHR’s petition to terminate the parental rights of the mother and the father. On March 8, 2012, the circuit court entered its judgment finding that the child was dependent; that the mother and the father were unable or unwilling to discharge their duties to and for the child; that the parents’ conduct or condition was unlikely to change; that the Colbert County DHR had made reasonable efforts to rehabilitate the mother and the father but that those efforts had failed; and that no viable alternatives to termination of the parents’ parental rights existed that would promote or be consistent with the child’s best interests or foster his need for permanency.3 Both the mother and the father timely appealed. We have consolidated the appeals.

2110590 — The Mother’s Appeal

The mother appeals, arguing that the evidence at trial was insufficient to establish grounds for termination and the lack of a viable alternative to termination of her parental rights. The mother also maintains that the circuit court erred in receiving evidence from DHR workers who, she alleges, had a patent conflict of interest.

Grounds for Termination

Section 12-15-319, Ala.Code 1975, a part of the Alabama Juvenile Justice Act (“the AJJA”), § 12-15-101 et seq., Ala. Code 1975, provides, in pertinent part:

“(a) If the juvenile court finds from clear and convincing evidence, competent, material, and relevant in nature, that the parents of a child are unable or unwilling to discharge their respon[373]*373sibilities to and for the child, or that the conduct or condition of the parents renders them unable to properly care for the child and that the conduct or condition is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future, it may terminate the parental rights of the parents. In determining whether or not the parents are unable or unwilling to discharge their responsibilities to and for the child and to terminate the parental rights, the juvenile court shall consider the following factors including, but not limited to, the following:
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“(2) ... excessive use of alcohol or controlled substances, of a duration or nature as to render the parent unable to care for needs of the child.”

The mother contends that the circuit court improperly terminated her parental rights because, she says, the Colbert County DHR based its petition solely on her alleged drug dependency, which, she claims, was not proven to be continuing at the time of the trial. See D.O. v. Calhoun Cnty. Dep’t of Human Res., 859 So.2d 439, 444 (Ala.Civ.App.2003) (“evidence of current conditions or conduct relating to a parent’s inability or unwillingness to care for his or her children is implicit in the requirement that termination of parental rights be based on clear and convincing evidence”).

The undisputed evidence in the record indicates that the child tested positive for methadone and marijuana at birth, indicating that the mother had used those drugs while pregnant. Following his birth, the child remained hospitalized for two weeks to deal with the effects of his exposure to narcotics in útero. After that two-week period, the mother moved in with the father under the supervision of W.R., one of the mother’s maternal aunts, pursuant to a safety plan developed by the Colbert County DHR. After receiving reports of gunfire in the home from W.R., the Colbert County DHR implemented a new safety plan requiring the mother and the child to reside with D.T., another of the mother’s maternal aunts, without the father. That plan failed, according to Chasity Butler, a Colbert County DHR social worker, when the mother left the child locked in a bedroom with Da.V., her oldest child, where D.T. could not reach the child. At that point, the Colbert County DHR took the child into custody and placed the child in foster care.

Angel Geiske, the director of Turning Leaf Therapeutic and Social Service Providers, testified that she had performed a substance-abuse assessment on the mother at the request of the Colbert County DHR. Based on the information provided by the mother, Geiske concluded that the mother could participate in an intensive outpatient-treatment program, but, Geiske testified, she also had determined that, if the mother was not maintaining abstinence from opiates/opioids and marijuana, the mother would need to complete an inpatient-treatment program. Geiske testified that, based on her evaluation, she concluded that the mother was at high risk of addictive behaviors.

Butler testified that, although the mother had agreed to enroll at the “Freedom House” inpatient-treatment program in June 2008, the mother elected to participate in an outpatient-treatment program instead. The Colbert County DHR admitted into evidence a letter dated April 20, 2009, from Beth Sweat, the program coordinator of Freedom House. In that letter, Sweat stated that, although the mother had graduated from Freedom House’s outpatient program, the mother had experienced issues while participating in the outpatient program and had failed to report obtaining repeated refills of pain medi[374]*374cations and using pain medication on other occasions.

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Related

G.S. v. Cullman Cnty. Dep't of Human Res.
253 So. 3d 383 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 2017)
D.T. v. Cullman County Department of Human Resources
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H.W. v. Morgan County Department of Human Resources
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145 So. 3d 27 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2013)

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Bluebook (online)
121 So. 3d 370, 2012 WL 6554398, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 343, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dv-v-colbert-county-department-of-human-resources-alacivapp-2012.