Gutierrez v. Arkansas Department of Human Services

424 S.W.3d 329, 2012 Ark. App. 575, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 682
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 10, 2012
DocketNo. CA 12-466
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 424 S.W.3d 329 (Gutierrez 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
Gutierrez v. Arkansas Department of Human Services, 424 S.W.3d 329, 2012 Ark. App. 575, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 682 (Ark. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

DOUG MARTIN, Judge.

1 Appellant Nina Gutierrez appeals from the Lonoke County Circuit Court’s termination of her parental rights to her two sons, A.A. (DOB: 2-5-02) and A.G. (DOB: 1-31-06). Gutierrez argues that there was insufficient evidence to support the termination.1 We disagree and affirm.

On July 26, 2010, police executed a search warrant on Gutierrez’s home, and she and her boyfriend were arrested on charges of maintaining a drug premises, possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, and possession of drug paraphernalia. The children, A.A. and A.G., were taken into custody by the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS), and an order for emergency custody was entered July 28, 2010. On August 2, 2010, the trial court found probable cause that the emergency conditions necessitating the children’s removal | continued and that it was contrary to the children’s welfare to be returned to Gutierrez’s custody.

A.A. and A.G. were adjudicated dependent-neglected on September 7, 2010, based on the trial court’s finding that the children were in danger of severe child maltreatment due to marijuana being used and sold in Gutierrez’s home. The goal was reunification, and the trial court ordered DHS to develop a case plan and provide services to Gutierrez.

On November 29, 2010, a review order indicates that DHS had made reasonable efforts to provide the following services: visitation, counseling, medical care, foster care, PACE (Project for Adolescent and Child Evaluation) evaluation,' family social worker visits, parenting classes, random drug screens, transportation, referral for drug assessment, daycare, and comprehensive evaluation. The trial court found that Gutierrez had partially complied with the case plan but had not provided documentation of her attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous (AA/NA) meetings. Following a random drug screen on October 7, 2010, Gutierrez tested negative for all substances; however, on October 28, 2010, Gutierrez tested positive for methamphetamine.

Another review hearing was held on April 5, 2011, and the trial court found that, in addition to the services provided, DHS had made a referral for individual counseling, drug-and-alcohol assessment, and psychological evaluation. The trial court found that, while Gutierrez had attended visitation with her children, submitted to random drug screens, and maintained stable housing and employment, she had not completed a drug-and-alcohol assessment, attended individual counseling, undergone a psychological evaluation, or provided documentation from AA/NA meetings.

|aOn June 7, 2011, a review hearing was held, and the trial court found that Gutierrez had attended visitation, submitted to random drug screens, maintained stable housing and employment, undergone a psychological evaluation, and attended counseling and AA/NA meetings.

At a permanency planning hearing held on July-5, 2011, the trial court continued the goal of reunification. The trial court found that, although DHS had made a referral for a drug-and-alcohol assessment, an appointment date and time had not been received. The trial court also noted that .DHS had a difficult time administering random drug screens and thus ordered Gutierrez to submit to a hair-follicle drug test.

A review hearing was held on August 3, 2011, and the trial court found that Gutierrez had refused to submit to a hair-follicle drug test. Gutierrez was again ordered to submit to the test.

At the fifteen-month review hearing on September 6, 2011, the trial court found that Gutierrez had not complied with the case plan in that she still had not taken the hair-follicle drug test and only recently completed a drug-and-alcohol assessment. The trial court allowed Gutierrez another opportunity to take the hair-follicle drug test. Moreover, the trial court granted DHS’s request to give Gutierrez an additional thirty days to comply based on DHS’s report that the children were very attached to their mother.

On October 11, 2011, DHS and an attorney ad litem for the minor children filed a joint petition for termination of Gutierrez’s parental rights.

A second permanency planning hearing was held on October 14, 2011, and the trial court found that Gutierrez had not complied with the case plan, in that she tested positive for |4methamphetamine on a drug screen administered September 7, 2011, and, when Gutierrez finally submitted to the hair-follicle drug test on September 22, 2011, it was positive for methamphetamine. The trial court thus changed the goal of the case from reunification to adoption.

A termination hearing was held on January 31, 2012. Family service worker Lakisha Tatum was assigned to Gutierrez’s case in January 2011. Tatum conceded that DHS had gotten off to a bad start with Gutierrez’s drug-and-alcohol assessment. Gutierrez’s initial drug-and-alcohol assessment was scheduled to occur in December 2010, but it was canceled because Gutierrez had a court appearance. Tatum testified that she made a second referral for an assessment in March 2011 and that, although she later discovered that the assessment had been scheduled, Tatum did not receive notice. As a result, Gutierrez’s drug-and-alcohol assessment was not completed until August 24, 2011. With regard to the hair-follicle drug test, Tatum testified that Gutierrez refused the tests scheduled in July and August, citing concerns with the test about which she wanted to speak with her lawyer. When Gutierrez finally took the hair-follicle drug test on September 22, 2011, it was positive for methamphetamine. Tatum noted that, in January 2011 when she was assigned to the case, Gutierrez had also tested positive for methamphetamine. Tatum stated that, prior to the positive drug screen in September 2011, Gutierrez had unsupervised visitation on weekends and overnight visits with her children and that the case was proceeding toward a trial placement in Gutierrez’s home. Tatum testified that Gutierrez completed parenting classes, had a job working for her father, maintained stable housing, resolved her legal issues in that she had received probation, submitted to some random drug screens, and completed | ^individual counseling. Tatum testified that, although Gutierrez submitted to a psychological evaluation, she had not followed through with the recommendations. Tatum testified that Gutierrez had not continuously and regularly visited her children and had missed some visits. Tatum testified that there were times that Gutierrez appeared unannounced at the foster parents’ home on a different day than that on which she was scheduled to visit her children. According to Tatum, Gutierrez’s anger got in the way of her participating with the case plan, and Gutierrez did not show a genuine interest in complying until the very end when the goal was changed to adoption. While Tatum testified that it was her opinion that Gutierrez could care for her children at the time of the termination hearing, Tatum recommended termination of Gutierrez’s parental rights because the children needed permanency. Tatum testified that she did not believe there would be a problem finding adoptive parents for the children because they were “young, smart, intelligent, very lovable” but that, to her knowledge, no potential families had expressed interest in adopting them thus. far.

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Bluebook (online)
424 S.W.3d 329, 2012 Ark. App. 575, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 682, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gutierrez-v-arkansas-department-of-human-services-arkctapp-2012.