In Re: Adoption of: U.H., a Minor

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 13, 2021
Docket251 MDA 2021
StatusUnpublished

This text of In Re: Adoption of: U.H., a Minor (In Re: Adoption of: U.H., a Minor) 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: U.H., a Minor, (Pa. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

J-S17003-21

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

IN RE: ADOPTION OF: U.H., A : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF MINOR : PENNSYLVANIA : : : : : : APPEAL OF: S.B., FATHER : No. 251 MDA 2021

Appeal from the Decree Entered January 27, 2021 In the Court of Common Pleas of York County Orphans' Court at No: 2020-0187, CP-67-DP-0000191-2019

IN THE INTEREST OF: U.H., A : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF MINOR : PENNSYLVANIA : : : : : : APPEAL OF: S.B., FATHER : No. 252 MDA 2021

Appeal from the Order Entered January 27, 2021 In the Court of Common Pleas of York County Juvenile Division at No: 2020-0187, CP-67-DP-0000191-2019

BEFORE: STABILE, J., KUNSELMAN, J., and PELLEGRINI, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY STABILE, J.: FILED JULY 13, 2021

S.B. (“Father”) appeals the decree entered on January 27, 2021, which

terminated involuntarily his parental rights to his daughter, U.H. (“Child”),

born in May 2018. In addition, Father appeals the order entered that same

day, that changed Child’s permanency goal from return to parent or guardian ____________________________________________

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court. J-S17003-21

to adoption.1 After review, we affirm the termination decree and dismiss the

appeal from the goal change order as moot.

The record reveals that the York County Office of Children, Youth and

Families (“CYF”) became involved with Child in August 2018 due to concerns

regarding Mother’s ability to address Child’s special medical needs. Child had

been born prematurely and needed a tracheotomy, g-tube, and pulse-oxygen

machine. CYF closed the case in March 2019, concluding that there were no

concerns for Child’s safety at that time. However, CYF became involved again

in June 2019, due to concerns regarding Mother’s mental health and ability to

care for Child upon her discharge from the hospital. Hospital staff informed

CYF that Mother was behaving erratically and failing to comply with medical

instructions regarding Child’s care. Meanwhile, Father did not involve himself

in Child’s life and requested paternity testing, which eventually confirmed he

was Child’s parent. CYF filed an application for emergency protective custody

of Child on July 17, 2019, which the trial court granted by order entered July

18, 2019. The court held a shelter care hearing on July 18, 2019 and entered

a shelter care order on July 22, 2019. CYF filed a dependency petition on July

19, 2019, held a dependency hearing on July 29, 2019, and adjudicated Child

dependent by order entered that same day. The court placed Child in the care

____________________________________________

1 The trial court’s decree also terminated the parental rights of Child’s mother,

A.H. (“Mother”). Mother did not appeal the termination decree or goal change order.

-2- J-S17003-21

of her maternal grandmother, with whom she has resided since her discharge

from the hospital in approximately August 2019.

Importantly, Father is a registered sex offender and was on probation

at the time of Child’s placement due to convictions of indecent exposure and

indecent assault. He incurred a driving under the influence charge, violated

his probation, and was incarcerated in September 2019. Although our review

of the record does not reveal the ultimate disposition of this charge, Father

was released from incarceration in May 2020. Father was then involved in a

serious accident in June 2020 and broke his neck. He was partially paralyzed

for a time and resided at a physical rehabilitation facility. It is not clear exactly

when Father left the facility, but he was no longer residing there by the time

of a status review hearing on September 16, 2020.

On October 30, 2020, CYF filed a petition to terminate Father’s parental

rights to Child involuntarily. CYF filed a petition to change Child’s permanent

placement goal from return to parent or guardian to adoption on November

2, 2020. The trial court held a hearing on the petitions on January 22, 2021,

at the conclusion of which it announced it would terminate Father’s rights and

change Child’s goal.2 The court entered a decree and order memorializing its

decisions on January 27, 2021. The court also entered a separate order that

2 The trial court appointed a single attorney, Ann Marie McElwee, Esquire, to

act as both Child’s legal counsel and guardian ad litem during the proceedings. Attorney McElwee indicated at the hearing that no conflict appeared to exist between Child’s legal interests and best interests, as Child was less than three years old at the time and had a limited vocabulary. N.T., 1/22/21, at 185-87.

-3- J-S17003-21

same day, which it had dictated during the hearing, explaining its decisions.

Father timely filed separate notices of appeal, along with concise statements

of errors complained of on appeal, on February 22, 2021.

Father raises the following claims on appeal:

I. Whether the trial court erred in changing the goal from reunification to adoption, wherein no reasonable efforts were provided to [Father] prior to the filing of the motion to change court ordered goal[?]

II. Whether the trial court erred in terminating the parental rights of [Father] pursuant to Sections 2511[(a)](1), (2), and (8) of the Adoption Act, wherein CYF failed to provide any meaningful services to [Father] to promote reunification[?]

III. Whether the trial court erred in councluding [sic] that termination of parental rights would best serve the needs and welfare of the child pursuant to Section 2511(b) of the Adoption Act[?]

Father’s Brief at 5 (unnecessary capitalization and Father’s suggested answers

omitted).

We begin by addressing the involuntary termination of Father’s parental

rights, which he challenges in his second and third issues. Our standard of

review is as follows:

The standard of review in termination of parental rights cases requires appellate courts to accept the findings of fact and credibility determinations of the trial court if they are supported by the record. If the factual findings are supported, appellate courts review to determine if the trial court made an error of law or abused its discretion. A decision may be reversed for an abuse of discretion only upon demonstration of manifest unreasonableness, partiality, prejudice, bias, or ill-will. The trial court’s decision, however, should not be reversed merely because the record would support a different result. We have previously

-4- J-S17003-21

emphasized our deference to trial courts that often have first-hand observations of the parties spanning multiple hearings.

In re T.S.M., 71 A.3d 251, 267 (Pa. 2013) (citations and quotation marks

Section 2511 of the Adoption Act governs the involuntary termination of

parental rights. See 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 2511. It requires a bifurcated analysis:

. . . . Initially, the focus is on the conduct of the parent. The party seeking termination must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the parent’s conduct satisfies the statutory grounds for termination delineated in Section 2511(a). Only if the court determines that the parent’s conduct warrants termination of his or her parental rights does the court engage in the second part of the analysis pursuant to Section 2511(b): determination of the needs and welfare of the child under the standard of best interests of the child.

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In Re: Adoption of: U.H., a Minor, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-adoption-of-uh-a-minor-pasuperct-2021.