In Re: Adoption of A.E.M.A., Appeal of: D.M.S.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 13, 2025
Docket1256 WDA 2024
StatusUnpublished

This text of In Re: Adoption of A.E.M.A., Appeal of: D.M.S. (In Re: Adoption of A.E.M.A., Appeal of: D.M.S.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re: Adoption of A.E.M.A., Appeal of: D.M.S., (Pa. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

J-S06003-25

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

IN RE: ADOPTION OF: A.E.M.A., A : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF MINOR : PENNSYLVANIA : : APPEAL OF: D.M.S., MOTHER : : : : : No. 1256 WDA 2024

Appeal from the Order Entered August 2, 2024 In the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County Orphans’ Court at No(s): 018-2024

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J.E., LANE, J., and BENDER, P.J.E.

MEMORANDUM BY PANELLA, P.J.E.: FILED: March 13, 2025

Mother appeals from the August 2, 2024, order entered in the

Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas granting the petition of the

Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau (“WCCB”) and involuntarily

terminating Mother’s parental rights to her minor child, A.E.M.A. (“Child”)

(d.o.b. April 2015).1 After our careful review, we affirm.

The WCCB initially became aware of this family in February 2021, from

a referral alleging Mother and Father (collectively, “Parents”) were using illegal

drugs and that the home was in poor condition. Child had not seen a

pediatrician in 2 years and was not current on vaccines. The WCCB

____________________________________________

1 The court also involuntarily terminated the parental rights of S.G.A. (“Father”). He is not a party to this appeal. J-S06003-25

recommended Child be taken to a pediatrician and scheduled for a forensic

interview and closed the case.

The WCCB received a second referral in November 2021. The referral

alleged the home was in disarray, Mother continued her drug use, and Child

was unkempt and often hungry. Child still had not been seen by a pediatrician

and, contrary to Mother’s claim, Child was not enrolled in cyber school. Child

did not have a usable bedroom and Parents were in the process of being

evicted from the home. Mother was unemployed. The WCCB contracted for

Mother’s drug screening and nonoffenders’ treatment, as Father was an

indicated perpetrator of sexual assault of a minor in another case.2 Mother

refused to comply with drug screens and was unresponsive and unavailable to

both the WCCB and service providers. Mother refused to schedule a forensic

interview for Child.

The WCCB filed a dependency petition on February 9, 2022, and the

court declared Child dependent after a March 11, 2022 adjudication and

disposition hearing. The court transferred legal custody of Child to the WCCB

2 Father was indicated as a perpetrator of sexual abuse of a minor on November 28, 2021, in another dependency matter. Father did not appeal his indicated status. As a result, at all times during the pendency of this case, Father was ordered to attend offender’s treatment, which he completely failed to do.

-2- J-S06003-25

and placed Child in a foster home.3 The court found the WCCB had made

reasonable efforts to prevent Child’s removal from the home and that return

to Mother’s care was contrary to Child’s best interests. The court voiced its

concern about Mother’s ability to protect Child from potential abuse by Father.

Testimony established the poor condition of Mother’s home, Mother’s non-

compliance with relapse and nonoffender’s treatment, and Mother’s lack of

cooperation with clinicians at The Children’s Institute, which supervised the

visits between Mother and Child. The court ordered Mother to (1) undergo a

drug and alcohol evaluation and comply with treatment recommendations; (2)

comply with random drug screens; (3) participate in and successfully complete

sexual abuse nonoffender treatment; (4) obtain/maintain stable and

appropriate housing; and (5) obtain/maintain verifiable legal employment.

The court held 4 permanency review hearings between June 22, 2022,

and February 6, 2024. At the hearings, the court found Child’s placement

continued to be necessary, Mother vacillated between minimal to moderate

compliance with the permanency plan, and between no progress and

moderate progress in alleviating the circumstances that led to Child’s removal.

Specifically, in June, 2022, the orphans’ court found Mother had had no

contact with the WCCB, had complied with one of 13 drug screens, attended

3 Child was initially placed in a traditional foster home. Approximately 3 months’ later, on June 24, 2022, she was placed with her maternal uncle, R.S. (“Foster Father”), and his wife (collectively, “Foster Parents” or “Foster Family”), where she continued to reside at the time of the termination hearing.

-3- J-S06003-25

only 2 of 9 nonoffender therapy sessions, and failed to provide information

about drug and alcohol treatment. Mother attended only 12 of 40 supervised

visits with Child, to which she often was late. Although Mother claimed she

and Father had separated, Parents visited Child together, obtained housing

together, and Father was supporting Mother financially. The WCCB voiced its

concern about Mother’s denial of Father’s abuse of another child despite

Father’s indicated status.

At the December 5, 2022 permanency review hearing, the court credited

Mother with moderate compliance with the permanency plan and in alleviating

the circumstances that led to Child’s placement. Mother reported attending

drug and alcohol treatment, although she failed to obtain the ordered

evaluation. Mother only had complied with 3 of 19 drug screens during the

relevant period, and all were positive for marijuana. Mother was unable to

provide any documentation to support her claim that she had obtained housing

and employment. Mother completed nonoffenders treatment and represented

she and Father remained separated. With the exception of Mother’s

cooperation with nonoffenders treatment, Mother’s court ordered services

remained the same. Visitation with Child was changed to one unsupervised

visit per week, contingent on Mother’s cooperation with drug screens. The

unsupervised visits began in December 2022. However, visitation reverted to

supervised in May 2023 because, for the period of December 2022 through

-4- J-S06003-25

May 2023, Mother only complied with 11 drug screens out of 93 and she tested

positive for methamphetamines twice.

On June 26, 2023, the court found Mother’s compliance with the

permanency plan remained moderate. However, her compliance with drug

testing was poor. Despite reporting that she was participating in drug and

alcohol treatment, Mother had not provided proof or signed an information

release. Although Mother stated she and Father were still separated, he

continued to use her address as his own. Concerns about Mother’s drug use

continued to present a barrier for unsupervised contact with Child. Mother

refused to test at the June 26th hearing although screeners were present. The

court ordered Mother to continue and successfully complete recommended

drug and alcohol treatment, comply with random drug screens, and obtain

and maintain appropriate housing and employment.

The December 13, 2023, hearing was continued. The WCCB had

requested reports from service providers for this hearing and received a report

from The Children’s Institute. According to the report, Mother attended 17 of

21 scheduled visits between June 29, 2023, and November 30, 2023.

Communication between Child and Mother during meals had decreased, with

Child watching television instead of interacting with Mother. Mother advised

The Children’s Institute provider she would not use the entire visit to help

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Bluebook (online)
In Re: Adoption of A.E.M.A., Appeal of: D.M.S., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-adoption-of-aema-appeal-of-dms-pasuperct-2025.