In re C.D.B.

37 S.W.3d 925, 2000 Tenn. App. LEXIS 670
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedOctober 18, 2000
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 37 S.W.3d 925 (In re C.D.B.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re C.D.B., 37 S.W.3d 925, 2000 Tenn. App. LEXIS 670 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

[926]*926OPINION

HIGHERS, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court,

in which CRAWFORD, P.J., W.S., and FARMER, J., joined.

This case involves the termination of parental rights. Upon a petition filed by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, the Montgomery County Juvenile Court entered a final decree terminating the Appellant’s parental rights.

Denise Bagwell appeals from the decision of the Montgomery County Juvenile Court terminating her parental rights as to three of her minor children. For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the trial court decision.

I. Facts and Procedural History

C.D.B., S.S.B. and S.E.B. are the minor children of Denise Rita Bagwell (“Appellant”). On October 12, 1994, the Tennessee Department of Human Services filed a petition for the temporary custody of the children.1 The petition alleged, inter alia, that the children were filthy and unsupervised, medically neglected, developmentally delayed, physically abused, and living in a filthy and dangerous home.2 The petition claimed that the children were dependent and neglected pursuant to T.C.A. § 37-l-102(10)(F),(G). On that same date, the Montgomery County Juvenile Court entered a protective custody order giving temporary custody of the children to the Department.

Helen Allen, a caseworker for the Department, testified regarding the circumstances which led to the removal of the Appellant’s children. She testified that her department had previously received several referrals regarding the Bagwell children. Those referrals mostly involved chronic neglect and filthy living conditions. Ms. Allen testified to the numerous services which the Department had offered Ms. Bagwell, including a “homemaker” who was assigned to teach Ms. Bagwell how to take care of her home and children. These services had little, if any, success in improving Ms. Bagwell’s parenting skills. Ms. Bagwell refused to find employment and attended few, if any, of the counseling sessions arranged for her. In short, Ms. Bagwell was not acting as a parent to her children, nor was she attempting to improve her situation.

After the children were removed, Dan-ette Thigpen took over the case on behalf of the Department. Ms. Thigpen undertook a step-by-step review with Denise Bagwell detailing the latter’s responsibilities. At this time, C.D.B. and S.S.B. were in a level two therapeutic foster home, which was necessitated by their sexual acting out and other problems. Ms. Thigpen testified that Ms. Bagwell was unable to comprehend or appreciate the numerous problems confronting her children. It was Ms. Thigpen’s opinion that at the time the petition for termination was filed, Ms. Bag-well was no closer to having her children returned than when they were removed.

On April 28, 1997, Ms. Thigpen filed a petition to terminate Denise Bagwell’s parental rights. On March 5, 1998, the trial court entered a final decree terminating the Appellant’s parental rights. However, that decree was subsequently set aside.3 On October 10, 1998, a meeting was held where a new plan of care, including many of the same responsibilities in the previous plan, was developed. Ms. Bagwell did not attend the meeting. A caseworker subsequently met with Ms. Bagwell and explained her responsibilities under the new plan of care.4 Ms. Bagwell did not comply with the plan of care.

[927]*927On July 15, 1999, this matter was heard in the Montgomery County Juvenile Court. The trial court heard testimony from various witnesses, including Ms. Bagwell, and made the following findings of fact:

Based on the testimony of the witnesses here today and the party, Ms. Bagwell, report of the guardian ad litem, the Court does find that the children went into the custody of the state in August of '94 and been in state custody since that time, from the testimony of Mrs. Allen, a 26 year employee of the department, that • testimony totally without notes I might add. During her many years of working with Ms. Bagwell and her children, the department’s done everything humanly possible to help Ms. Bagwell. In fact, as Ms. Allen stated, it was the most services provided to. any one person in her 26 years in the department. And, during that time there was no demonstration by Ms. Bagwell that she had adopted any skill to parent to protect her children. Simply pursuing this action to terminate her or to persist in the termination of the parent rights in this Court is not enough.
Mrs. Allen testified that in 1996, two years after placing these children in foster care, Ms. Bagwell’s home was still deplorable. She’s demonstrated no way to support the children, did not attend counseling or therapy consistently.
The Court finds that a second case worker, Ms. Thigpen, began anew with Ms. Bagwell in 1996, and the new case worker’s goal was to reestablish bonding and visitation. And during Ms. Thig-pen’s two years in dealing with Ms. Bag-well, she never felt comfortable sending these children home.
And although the new case worker, Ms. Thigpen, saw Ms. Bagwell’s love for the children, she did not consistently do the things necessary — that is, Ms. Bagwell, did not consistently do the things necessary to regain custody of the children. Failed to get a job, failed to get a GED, failed to get counseling.
Ms. Bagwell testified over and over I’m going to do this, I’m going to do this, I’m going to do this tomorrow. She’s had two years before she came here today, yet she still hasn’t accomplished those things.

The trial court found that the conditions which led to the removal were not likely to be remedied and that the possibility of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse still existed. Based on its factual finding, the court concluded that termination served the best interests of the children. By order dated January 6, 2000, the trial court terminated Ms. Bagwell’s parental rights pursuant to T.C.A. § 36-1-113(g)(3)(A). This appeal followed.

II. Law and Analysis

The decision to terminate parental rights involves fundamental constitutional rights. O’Daniel v. Messier, 905 S.W.2d 182, 186 (Tenn.Ct.App.1995). Therefore, the court must find that the grounds for termination of parental rights have been established by “clear and convincing evidence.” See Tenn.Code Ann. § 36-l-113(c)(l) (1996); State Dept. of Human Servs. v. Defriece, 937 S.W.2d 954, 960 (Tenn.Ct.App.1996). Clear and convincing evidence is evidence which “eliminates any serious or substantial doubt concerning the correctness of the conclusion to be drawn from the evidence.” O’Daniel, 905 S.W.2d at 186.

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Bluebook (online)
37 S.W.3d 925, 2000 Tenn. App. LEXIS 670, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-cdb-tennctapp-2000.