In re C.L.C.

615 S.E.2d 704, 171 N.C. App. 438, 2005 N.C. App. LEXIS 1316
Court of Appeals of North Carolina·Decided July 19, 2005·No. No. COA04-471.·Published·Cited by 82 cases

Opinions

GEER, Judge.

Respondent mother L.M. appeals from the judgment terminating her parental rights to her four children, C.L.C., K.T.R., A.M.R., and E.A.R. On appeal, the mother argues primarily that the judgment must be reversed because the trial court's and DSS' failure to comply with certain statutory time deadlines deprived the trial court of jurisdiction. Since, however, L.M. has failed to demonstrate prejudice from the missed deadlines and because we do not find her other arguments on appeal meritorious, we affirm.

Facts

This case began in March 2001 when the Buncombe County Department of Social Services ("DSS") received a report that L.M. ("the mother") was not properly supervising her four children, that the father of one child whipped him with a belt, that there was severe domestic violence between the mother and father, and that the mother failed to take her children to medical and dental appointments. After substantiating the report, DSS began working with the family. The mother frequently told a social worker that she could not handle the responsibility of parenting her children and asked that the children be placed elsewhere. On 26 July 2001, the mother voluntarily placed the children in the Angel Watch program.

The mother located appropriate housing and the children were returned to her on 1 November 2001. The mother agreed not to allow her boyfriend to be around the children until he completed substance abuse treatment. In addition, any visitation between the children and their father was required to be supervised because of the history of severe domestic violence between the mother and father. DSS learned, however, that the mother had, during the following two weeks, allowed her boyfriend to be around the children on at least three occasions and had allowed the father to have unsupervised contact with the children.

On 18 November 2001, the mother called the after-hours on-call social worker for DSS and told her that she could not handle caring for the children any more and that she wished to have the children placed in foster care. After subsequently stating the same thing to two other social workers, the mother again voluntarily placed her children with Angel Watch.

On 6 December 2001, DSS filed a petition alleging that the minor children were neglected and obtained non-secure custody of the children. The mother consented to the trial court's adjudication of her minor children as neglected based upon stipulated findings of fact. In its order filed 28 February 2002, following a hearing on 28 January 2002, the trial court determined that the children were neglected based on the fact that the children did not receive proper care and supervision and lived in an environment injurious to their welfare due to the domestic violence between the mother and father.

*706The court ordered the mother to (1) complete parenting classes, (2) complete a substance abuse program and follow all recommendations, (3) obtain a psychological assessment and follow all recommendations, and (4) obtain stable employment and housing.

The mother has acknowledged that on 24 January 2002, she tested positive for opiates. Subsequently, the mother failed to complete the ordered substance abuse assessment. Although she began parenting classes in January 2002 and attended all but three classes, she failed to complete the remaining three classes over the next 15 months. A psychological assessment concluded: "[The mother's] ability to parent her children effectively is often clouded by the emotional issues resulting from a history of abuse, inadequate coping skills, and chaotic interpersonal relationships. [The mother] . . . has the potential to provide a safe, stable home for her children, but there are many issues that she needs help with before she is able to parent them effectively." Although the court had ordered that the mother comply with any recommendations arising out of the assessment - which included recommendations of therapy, assertiveness training, anger management, participation in a support group for battered women, and completion of parenting classes - the mother failed to do so.

Throughout the period prior to the filing of the petition, the mother failed to obtain stable employment and housing. Following July 2002, the mother refused two drug screen requests. She was convicted of writing worthless checks in October 2002 and had another charge of worthless checks pending that was in violation of her probation for possession of drug paraphernalia.

The mother visited with the children on a somewhat regular basis until early October 2002. Following July 2002, the mother did not send letters, cards, or gifts to the children. She did not pay any child support even after a child support order of $104.00 was entered; she acknowledged at the time of the hearing that she was in arrears in the amount of approximately $500.00.

At a permanency planning hearing held on 6 November 2002, the plan for the children was changed from reunification to adoption, although DSS was required to allow visitation if the mother requested it. The mother did not contact her social worker again until December 2002. At that time, she did not, however, request visitation with the children. The mother did not attend a permanency planning hearing on 2 December 2002 and the court's order indicates that the mother had had no contact with either her attorney or DSS. The court, therefore, discontinued all visitation.

The mother made no further contact with DSS with the exception of leaving a voice mail on 3 January 2003, saying that she had moved to Tennessee and that she would be supplying DSS with her new address and phone number. Between that message and the filing of the petition for termination of parental rights, DSS heard nothing further from the mother.

On 17 April 2003, DSS filed separate petitions to terminate the mother's parental rights to each of her four children.1 The petitions were served on 3 July 2003, the hearing was held on 2-3 September 2003, and the trial court filed a judgment terminating the mother's parental rights on 15 October 2003. In its order, the court concluded that the mother (1) neglected the children, (2) willfully left the children in foster care for more than 12 months without showing that reasonable progress had been made to correct the conditions that caused the removal of her children, and (3) willfully abandoned the children for at least six consecutive months immediately prior to the filing of the petition. After concluding that grounds for termination existed, the court further found that it was in the best interests of the children that their mother's parental rights be terminated.

I

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

In re C.L.C., 615 S.E.2d 704, 171 N.C. App. 438, 2005 N.C. App. LEXIS 1316 (N.C. Ct. App. 2005).

615 S.E.2d 704 (In re C.L.C.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

In re A.D.H.
Supreme Court of North Carolina, 2025
In re L.C.
Supreme Court of North Carolina, 2025
Williams v. Cabrera
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2025
In re: L.C.
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2024
In re: B.M.S.
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2023
In re A.C.
Supreme Court of North Carolina, 2021
In re Z.L.W.
831 S.E.2d 62 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 2019)
In re T.N.H.
831 S.E.2d 54 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 2019)
In re: T.H. & M.H.
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2019
In re A.J.K.
824 S.E.2d 919 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2019)
In re N. L.C.
822 S.E.2d 796 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2019)
In re C.L.C.
808 S.E.2d 176 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2017)
In re S.F.-H.
808 S.E.2d 176 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2017)
In re A.G.
798 S.E.2d 442 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2017)
Easley v. TLC Cos.
776 S.E.2d 898 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2015)
Andrews v. Parrish
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2014
In re A.A.
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2014
In re H.M.
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2014
In re P.V.M.
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2014
In re T.J.F.
750 S.E.2d 568 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2013)