In Re: Adoption of: X.P.D. Appeal of: K.K., mother

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 26, 2015
Docket128 WDA 2015
StatusUnpublished

This text of In Re: Adoption of: X.P.D. Appeal of: K.K., mother (In Re: Adoption of: X.P.D. Appeal of: K.K., mother) 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: X.P.D. Appeal of: K.K., mother, (Pa. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

J. S40015/15

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION – SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

IN RE: ADOPTION OF: X.P.D. : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA APPEAL OF: K.K., NATURAL MOTHER, : : No. 128 WDA 2015 Appellant :

Appeal from the Order Entered December 22, 2014, in the Court of Common Pleas of Butler County Orphans’ Court Division at No. OA No. 2011-00035a

BEFORE: FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E., DONOHUE AND STRASSBURGER,* JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E.: FILED AUGUST 26, 2015

K.K. (“Mother”) appeals from the order granting the petition filed by

J.R.D. (“Father”), involuntarily terminating Mother’s parental rights to her

son, X.P.D. (“Child”), born in 2007, pursuant to Section 2511(a)(2) and (b)

of the Adoption Act, 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 2511(a)(2) and (b). We affirm.

We adopt the factual history of this matter as recounted by the trial

court.

Mother and Father never married. At the time of Child’s birth, they resided together. Both consumed illegal drugs. Child was born addicted to methadone. During this time, both parents provided care for Child. When Child was three or four months old, Father left Mother who then provided all parental care for Child until her arrest on or about July 16, 2008 when Child was approximately 18 months old.

Mother was purchasing stamp bags of heroin. Child was present. Mother was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, possession of a controlled substance, and distribution of a small

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court. J. S40015/15

amount of marijuana. Mother ultimately pled guilty to all three charges.

After breaking up with Mother, Father began a process to stop his drug use. In July of 2007, Father enrolled in rehabilitation at Turning Point. He continued his plan for sobriety by attending Gateway, participating in Narcotics Anonymous for one year and participating in counseling through his church. Father has a clean date of August 9, 2007.

Following Mother’s arrest, Child was temporarily placed with Maternal Grandfather. Mother remained incarcerated for approximately three weeks. Father learned of Mother’s incarceration and placement of Child with Maternal Grandfather at a previously scheduled Custody Conciliation conference. Thirteen days after Mother’s arrest, physical custody was then granted to Father. Father has remained the primary physical custodian of Child since.

From the date of her arrest on July 16, 2008 until the start of therapeutic visits sometime in the summer of 2011, Mother had little contact with Child, provided no parental care, and provided no financial support for Child. Father provided all parental care and emotional support for Child. Prior to 2011, Mother had a long history of drug abuse and criminal convictions for drug related matters. Mother testified she has a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Mother has been prescribed medication such as Klonopin and Adderall for anxiety and ADHD. It is not clear from the evidence whether Mother has officially had a mental health evaluation, nor is it clear what prescriptions, if any, Mother is currently prescribed. Mother testified that she addresses her mental health by taking medication, attending weekly therapy and attending church.

Mother spent some time in 2010 in a state correctional facility followed by a day reporting program and a half-way house. It was during this time, with Father’s consent and support by Maternal

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Grandfather, that Mother had limited contact with Child.

Sometime after her release from the half-way house, Mother filed for a modification of custody. Following a custody conciliation, Mother received therapeutic visits with Mr. Ken Evanoski at Family Pathways through a Court Order dated June 2, 2011. Goals were set for Mother through Family Pathways which included being consistent with visitations, being prepared with snack, games and activities for Child during visits, and being able to show she was interested in Child. From the start, Mother did very well in that she would always come to visits “prepared and provided plenty of stuff and food” for Child. She would bring train sets and a little chair every week for Child. Mother signed releases to allow Family Pathways to communicate with her probation officer and other therapists. Due to the weekly drug screens Mother was submitting through her probation officer, she did not submit to drug screens at Family Pathways. She did, however, submit weekly reports with regards to her drug screens through her probation officer. Mother was passing her weekly tests.

Mother and Child continued to visit at Family Pathways until sometime in December of 2011. Father unilaterally stopped the therapeutic visits. Father’s explanation for ending the visits even though Court ordered varied from complaining that the location was inconvenient to disagreeing with the view of the therapeutic supervisor. Ken Evanoski testified that he has not been involved for more than two years with the parties, and has no knowledge of the current situation that exists.

Due to Father’s refusal to take Child to Family Pathways, Mother missed some parenting time. However, Father “permitted” Mother to have parenting time at Maternal Grandfather’s home instead.

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Therefore, Mother and Child had regular consistent parenting time together from approximately May, 2011 until December, 2012 (18 months). Mother has not, however, had any significant parenting time with Child that was not at least monitored since prior to July 16, 2008. Mother’s presence in Child’s life has been sporadic as a result of her continued struggle with addiction and incarceration. In fact, Mother has not seen Child since December 18, 2012 other than for a bonding assessment session on February 17, 2014.

In December of 2012, Mother proceeded to an appointment at a Suboxone clinic in Squirrel Hill during her scheduled four-hour visit with Child. She then kept Child for an additional four days, and she knowingly and intentionally failed to advise Father of Child’s whereabouts during that period of time. This incident resulted in the suspension of Mother’s visiting time with Child, which is still in effect. Mother testified that she believed Child to be too ill to return to Father’s care and, therefore, sought medical treatment for Child and claimed Child exhibited symptoms of a fever, a runny nose, vomiting and sore throat. The Court did not find Mother credible as to the reason she failed to timely return Child to Father’s custody. Mother testified that upon being discharged from the health care provider, Mother received instructions to give Child Tylenol or ibuprofen as needed, to drink fluids, and rest. Nothing was placed on the record to confirm such medical treatment was sought. Since that incident in December of 2012, the only contact Mother has had with Child has been via telephone, the two letters Mother sent Child, and the one Mother’s Day card Child sent Mother.

When the Court ordered, on or about December 17, 2012, that Mother’s visitations be suspended, her contact with Child was limited to telephone contact. That Order of Court continues to be in effect due to the consented to continuation of the custody litigation under the family docket. Mother has called Child at Father’s residence on a

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regular basis since the filing of the Petition despite the fact that Father listens to every conversation on speaker phone. The comfort level of the telephone communications may have been strained due to the monitoring of the communications by Father. During the telephone conversations, Mother did not engage in meaningful conversation with Child and indicated the calls were “purposeless” because Father listened to them.

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