In re Ang.P.

71 A.3d 713, 2013 WL 3821006
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 25, 2013
DocketNos. 11-FS-1584, 11-FS-1585
StatusPublished

This text of 71 A.3d 713 (In re Ang.P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Ang.P., 71 A.3d 713, 2013 WL 3821006 (D.C. 2013).

Opinion

WASHINGTON, Chief Judge:

Appellant, C.P., appeals the trial court’s determination that her daughters, Ang.P., age fourteen at the time of removal, and And.P., age five at the time of removal, were neglected under D.C.Code § 16-2301(9)(A)(ii) and (iii) (2001).2 On appeal, appellant argues that there was insufficient evidence to find that the children were without proper parental care or control or that she was unable to discharge her responsibilities due to her physical incapacity.3 For the following reasons, we conclude there is insufficient evidence to support a finding of neglect and vacate the trial court’s holding.

I. FACTS

Appellant is the mother of minor children Ang.P. and And.P., as well as Ant.P., her adult son who lives with her, and Ani.P., her adult daughter who frequently stays at her home. Appellant suffers from severe back pain due to a herniated disc in her back as a result of a car.accident in 1997. The back injury was further aggravated by three subsequent car accidents that have left appellant permanently disabled, since 2006. .Appellant takes several strong pain medications to manage her back pain and receives assistance from a home health aide from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week. Appellant was also diagnosed as suffering from “organic mood syndrome,” which is depression due to her medical ■ condition, and was prescribed an antidepressant. However, her psychiatrist testified that appellant did not have any psychiatric impairments that would interfere with her parenting.

On August 10, 2010, Ant.P., appellant’s adult son, called an ambulance for appellant because she complained of pain and numbness on the left side of her body. Appellant was taken to Georgetown Hospital and was accompanied by Ang.P. Dr. Van Wirt, who evaluated appellant, testi[715]*715fied that appellant had taken a lot of pills to the point of being “oversedated” and was falling asleep with food in her mouth. While appellant was at the hospital, the Child and Family Services Agency (“CFSA”) received a hotline report that And.P. had been left home alone. A police officer was dispatched to appellant’s home, but found And.P. in the care of her adult brother, Ant.P.

The following day, CFSA social worker Judith Leitch was assigned to investigate the report from the previous night and visited appellant at the hospital. Leitch testified that appellant appeared very tired and angry, and was uncooperative, refusing to sign authorization forms for CFSA to access her medical records or to create a Safety Plan for the children. Leitch visited appellant two more times in August to assess appellant and her home. The first time, appellant answered the door after half an hour of knocking and appeared angry and exhausted. Leitch testified that appellant’s home was somewhat messy and cluttered, but with adequate food and without major safety concerns. Leitch noted, however, that there was an unmarked bottle of pills on a windowsill and appellant seemed unconcerned that the children might ingest them. Leitch also noted that appellant occasionally nodded off during conversations, most notably slumping in her chair and slowly beginning to lose consciousness during the conversation she had on the phone with her sister and' in person with Leitch about whether to sign the Safety Plan Leitch had prepared. Finally, Leitch was told by Ang.P. that appellant choked her on two occasions in the past year, leaving red marks that lasted for one or two days. Based on all of this information, Leitch decided that the children should be removed from appellant’s care and that a neglect case be petitioned with the court.

At trial, Ang.P. testified that there had been times when appellant was either asleep or otherwise unable to care for the children, and there were no other adults in the home to watch her and her younger sister, And.P. Ang.P. testified that this-occurred less than once a month. Ani.P., appellant’s adult daughter, testified that appellant slept three to four hours during the day and a regular amount at night and that appellant’s medications made her drowsy. However, she also testified that And.P. was never left home alone with her mother, but that Ang.P. or another adult was always there.

Darlene Richardson, a CFSA social worker who had worked with appellant earlier in 2010, also testified at trial. Richardson testified that the children were not up to date on their immunizations or regularly seeing their physician, that appellant had difficulty keeping current with her utility bills, and that appellant previously had difficulty bringing And.P. to school on time. Finally, during the trial, Magistrate Judge Nooter observed appellant fall asleep and be unable to be roused by her attorney for an extended period of time.

Judge Nooter found Ang.P. and And.P. to be neglected under D.C.Code § 16-2301(9)(A)(ii) and (iii) because they lacked proper parental care and control, and because appellant was unable to discharge her parental responsibilities due to her physical impairments. Judge Nooter based his neglect finding on -evidence that appellant has a physical incapacity which requires her to take strong narcotics that cause her to become sleepy or practically unconscious and unable to function and care for her children, but has “no formal arrangement whereby someone is always available if needed to care for the children if [she] gets into this state of unconsciousness or incoherence.” Judge Nooter found [716]*716that there were occasions when appellant had been incapacitated but no adults were in the home’ to take care of Ang.P. and And.P. Judge Nooter concluded that the children were “without proper parental care or control” at those times. Judge Nooter further concluded that the evidence that appellant had failed to keep the children updated on their immunizations, to get And.P. to school on time, and to keep current on utility bills contributed to a “total picture of a mother who ... has difficulty meeting all of [the children’s]” needs due to her physical impairments. However, he found this evidence insufficient to support a finding of neglect. Judge Nooter also found that Ang.P.’s description of the “choking” events did not rise to the level of a finding of physical abuse under D.C.Code § 16-2301(9)(A)(i).

Associate Judge Neal Kravitz affirmed the magistrate judge’s order, finding that, on many occasions, appellant had “no plan of alternative child care in place, either formal or informal, and that as a direct result of [appellant’s] lack of planning, Ang.P. and And.P. have been left without proper parental care when [appellant’s] medications rendered her incapacitated” and no other adults were home to supervise the children.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

A child is neglected if he or she “is without proper parental care or control, subsistence, education as required by law, or other care necessary for his or her physical, mental or emotional health, and the deprivation is not due to the lack of financial means of his or her parent, guardian, or custodian.” D.C.Code § 16-2301(9)(A)(ii).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
71 A.3d 713, 2013 WL 3821006, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-angp-dc-2013.