In Re: Adoption of: S.R.G.D., Appeal of: S.Y.T.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 27, 2025
Docket2827 EDA 2024
StatusUnpublished

This text of In Re: Adoption of: S.R.G.D., Appeal of: S.Y.T. (In Re: Adoption of: S.R.G.D., Appeal of: S.Y.T.) 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: S.R.G.D., Appeal of: S.Y.T., (Pa. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

J-A12023-25

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

IN RE: ADOPTION OF: S.R.G.D., A : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF MINOR : PENNSYLVANIA : : APPEAL OF: S.Y.T., MOTHER : : : : : No. 2827 EDA 2024

Appeal from the Decree Entered September 6, 2024 In the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County Orphans' Court at No(s): 2024-A0069

BEFORE: STABILE, J., DUBOW, J., and SULLIVAN, J.

MEMORANDUM BY DUBOW, J.: FILED JUNE 27, 2025

Appellant, S.Y.T. (“Mother”), appeals from the September 6, 2024 order

that terminated her parental rights to three-year-old S.R.G.D. (“Child”). 1

Upon review, we affirm.

The following factual and procedural history is relevant to this appeal.

Child was born in March 2022. On April 14, 2022, the Montgomery County

Office of Children and Youth (the “Agency”) took emergency custody of Child

after receiving a report that Child was diagnosed with failure to thrive and that

Mother was threatening to remove Child from the Children’s Hospital of

Philadelphia (“CHOP”) against medical advice. On April 25, 2022, CHOP

discharged Child and the Agency placed Child in foster care. On May 25, 2022,

the court adjudicated Child dependent. The Agency set Family Service Plan ____________________________________________

1 Child’s biological father (“Father”) signed a consent to adoption, which the

trial court confirmed. Father is not a party to this appeal. J-A12023-25

(“FSP”) goals for Mother, including: maintain recovery from substance abuse,

participate in parenting classes, stabilize mental health, obtain and maintain

stable housing and income, and consistently visit with Child.

Mother is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, complex post-

traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, adjustment disorder, attention

deficit hyperactivity disorder, and bipolar disorder unspecified and receives

mental health treatment through Creative Health. She is unemployed and has

lived in ten different places since Child was born. Mother has lived in three

garages, a car, a tent, an apartment though a housing program, and three

other homes with roommates. Mother has consistently refused to allow the

Agency to inspect her housing and has consistently refused to give the Agency

the names of her roommates so the caseworkers can conduct background

checks.

Mother is currently living with a man that she met in a park and moved

in with; he is a convicted sex offender. Mother is engaged to E.J., who was

incarcerated on drug charges at the time of the hearing. Mother has plans to

move to Oklahoma with E.J. to live on her brother’s property.

Child is diagnosed with reflux, microcephaly with trigonocephaly, ptosis

of her left eye, three small holes in her heart, metatarsus adductus, tibial

torsion, autism, and TRIO neurodevelopmental disorder and receives various

-2- J-A12023-25

services.2 Mother was simultaneously diagnosed with TRIO

neurodevelopmental disorder. In April of 2023, Child received a court-ordered

nasogastric (“NG”) tube to assist with feeding and weight gain. In January of

2024, Child received a court-ordered a gastrostomy (“G”) tube in place of the

NG tube. Mother was opposed to the recommended NG and G tube treatments

and refused to learn how to care for Child with the NG and G tube. Mother

has attended approximately 10 out of 86 medical appointments for Child,

despite the Agency and Child’s foster mother making Mother aware of all

appointments.

The Agency offered Mother numerous services including Justice Works

Nurturing Parent, Abraxas visitation coaching, Lincoln Center case

management, and Time Limited Family Reunification. The Agency offered

transportation and/or bus passes to assist Mother with visits. Abraxas,

Lincoln, and Time Limited closed out unsuccessfully after more than a year of

service to Mother.

On October 13, 2023, the court changed Child’s permanency goal to

Adoption. On January 9, 2024, the court granted the Agency’s motion to

suspend or reduce Mother’s visitation. On May 7, 2024, the Agency filed a

petition to terminate. The court appointed Kyle Felty, Esq., to serve as both

____________________________________________

2 TRIO neurodevelopmental disorder is “a variation in the TRIO, T-R-I-O, gene

which causes a variety of different manifestations but part of it is feeding difficulties and poor weight gain.” N.T. Hearing, 7/23/24, at 133.

-3- J-A12023-25

Child’s legal counsel and guardian ad litem after finding that there was no

conflict with counsel serving in the dual role.

On July 23, 2024, and September 5, 2024, the trial court held hearings

on the termination petition. The court heard testimony from Danbrielle

Shoener, Agency intake caseworker; Letha Kaminski, Agency ongoing

caseworker; Codie Colon (“Foster Mother”), Child’s foster mother; Diane

Barsky, M.D.; associate professor of clinical pediatrics at the Perelman School

of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania and attending physician in the

Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at CHOP;

and Mother.

Ms. Shoener and Ms. Kaminski testified in accordance with the above-

stated facts. Additionally, Ms. Kaminski testified that Mother currently has

supervised visitation for two hours once per week with Child and that visitation

has decreased, rather than increased, throughout the life of the case. Ms.

Kaminski explained that Mother is consistently combative with Agency social

workers and Child’s doctors. She testified that Mother does not consistently

attend Child’s medical appointments, despite being invited. Ms. Kaminski

testified that she arranged for Child to receive physical therapy during

visitation so Mother could meet therapists and understand Child’s needs, but

Mother complained that the therapy left her little time to visit with Child and

she refused to participate in therapy outside of visitation. Ms. Kaminski

testified that she believed Mother would not be able to address and care for

Child’s extensive medical needs in the future. Ms. Kaminski further testified

-4- J-A12023-25

that she would be concerned for Child’s well-being and safety if Child were

reunified with Mother because Mother has not demonstrated an ability to

provide Child’s necessary medical care or expressed an intention to continue

to provide Child’s necessary medical interventions and therapies.

Ms. Kaminski testified that Child has been placed in the same pre-

adoptive foster home since being released from the hospital as a newborn.

She explained that Child is bonded to the foster parents and looks to them for

comfort, loves them, and is attached to them. Ms. Kaminski testified that the

foster parents meet all of Child’s medical, emotional, and day-to-day needs.

In turn, Ms. Kaminsky testified that Child recognizes Mother as a familiar

person but is not affectionate with Mother. Ms. Kaminsky testified that, in her

opinion, Child would not be irreparably harmed if the trial court terminated

Mother’s parental rights because Mother has not shown stability, and Child is

“doing well and attached and bonded with the foster parents.” Id. at 173-74.

Foster Mother testified that she lives with her husband, their three

children, and Child. Foster Mother testified that Child is treated by eight

medical specialists as well as a pediatrician.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re Adoption of J.M.
991 A.2d 321 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
In Re: Adoption of: A.C., a minor, Appeal of: A.C.
162 A.3d 1123 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
In Re: Adoption of: N.N.H. Appeal of: A.M., Mother
197 A.3d 777 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
In re B.L.L.
787 A.2d 1007 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2001)
In re M.G.
855 A.2d 68 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2004)
In re C.M.S.
884 A.2d 1284 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2005)
In the Interest of K.Z.S.
946 A.2d 753 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2008)
In re R.N.J.
985 A.2d 273 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2009)
In re Z.P.
994 A.2d 1108 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
In re N.A.M.
33 A.3d 95 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2011)
In re T.S.M.
71 A.3d 251 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
In the Interest of A.D.
93 A.3d 888 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
In Re: Adoption of: S.R.G.D., Appeal of: S.Y.T., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-adoption-of-srgd-appeal-of-syt-pasuperct-2025.