In re C.W.W.

37 S.W.3d 467, 2000 Tenn. App. LEXIS 327
Court of Appeals of Tennessee·Decided May 23, 2000·Published·Cited by 359 cases

Opinion

OPINION

FARMER, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court,

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

Christine Stroth Wideman (Mother) appeals the trial court’s judgment terminating her parental rights to three of her children, C.W.W., N.W.W., and Z.W.W. The Department of Children’s Services (DCS) obtained custody of these children for the -second time in February 1998. Several days earlier, the Mother instructed the children to go to a neighbor’s house for a few hours. When the Mother did not return for the children, school officials notified DCS that the children had been abandoned. The Mother was arrested and incarcerated on March 31, 1998, on prostitution and other charges. In November 1998, approximately one month after her release, DCS filed this petition to terminate the Mother’s parental rights. At the trial’s conclusion, the trial court entered a final decree terminating the Mother’s parental rights based upon the court’s findings that the Mother had abandoned the children and that the conditions which led to the children’s removal still persisted. We affirm the trial court’s judgment based upon our conclusion that the record contains clear and convincing evidence to support the trial court’s findings that 'the [469] Mother abandoned the children by engaging in conduct prior to her incarceration which exhibited a wanton disregard for the children’s welfare and that termination of the Mother’s parental rights was in the children’s best interests.

The children first came into the custody of the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) in November 1996. The trial court subsequently entered an agreed order finding the children to be dependent and neglected because of the crack cocaine addictions of their parents, Christopher Wayne Wideman (Father) and Christine Stroth Wideman (Mother). The trial court’s order indicated that the parents pled guilty to charges of criminal neglect involving the children. The order also indicated that the children would not be returned to the parents until the parents successfully completed treatment for their drug addictions.

On November 3, 1997, the trial court transferred legal custody of the children back to the parents. In its order transferring custody, the trial court found that the parents had undergone three negative drug screens since the last court hearing. The trial court also found that the parents were attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings three times per week and that the Father was employed in a drywall job.

Three months later, on February 3, 1998, DCS again petitioned the court for custody of the children. The petition alleged that the Mother left the children with a neighbor on Friday, January 30, 1998, and had not returned home or contacted the children. The petition further alleged that the parents had relapsed and that they were using drugs and neglecting the children again.

The trial court ordered that legal custody of the children again be placed with DCS. The court noted that

this is the children’s second stay in foster care and the apparent relapse of the parents is quite serious. The boys have counted on their [parents’] rehabilitation and the effect on them is potentially very serious.

In March 1998, the trial court entered an order finding the children to be dependent and neglected for the second time and ordering DCS to retain custody of the children. In support of its decision, the trial court made the following findings:

[T]he Mother sent the children to the home of Rita Moore, a neighbor whom the Mother had never met, on Friday, January 30, 1998, for Ms. Moore to watch them for a few hours. Ms. Moore kept the children until Monday, February 2, 1998, and still had not heard from the Mother. The Father was incarcerated. Ms. Moore took the children to school and told the school officials what had happened. The school officials called the Department and the children were taken into custody on an emergency basis. The Mother has not contacted Ms. Moore by phone or in person since January 30, 1998, to inquire about the whereabouts and safety of her children.
The trailer inhabited by the Wideman family was in a filthy condition with food molded in the refrigerator and no fresh food being in the house. Dirty clothing was piled high in the bathroom and the house stank. The water and electricity were still on in the trailer because utilities are included in the rent. The toilet was not in working order and had not been flushed in some time. There was a crack pipe, razor blades, and Chore Boys in a metal cookie container in the Mother’s dresser and [dildos] lying around the bedroom in plain sight. There were also boxes of baking soda and razor blades in close proximity in the house.
The Mother was ... seen the week of February 8th, 1998, on Dickerson gesturing in a sexually suggestive manner to male passersby. The Mother was seen in the company of one man not her husband in the vicinity of Dickerson Road and Old Trinity Lane. During the first week of February, the Mother was [470] seen on another occasion at a local market at which time she appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and perhaps some other substance. Her speech was slurred and she was staggering. The Mother was informed by the neighbor that her children had been taken into custody.
... [W]hile the family was still intact, the children appeared in the neighborhood oftentimes with dirty clothing, unclean faces, and dirty, oily hair. The parents were never seen supervising the children while they were out playing in the neighborhood.
[DCS] provided rehabilitative services for the parents when the children were in foster care from November 1996 to November 1997 and ... the parents at that time appeared to have bettered themselves by gaining employment and housing. However, that progress was short lived and any progress the parents made was lost shortly after the Court returned the children to the parents.

On March 31, 1998, the Mother was arrested and incarcerated because of prostitution and other charges. In July 1998, while she was still incarcerated, the Mother gave birth to a fourth child, A.L.W. The Mother agreed to place custody of A.L.W. with Jamie and Jorge Flores. After her release in October 1998, the Mother requested visitation with the children, and her request was granted. '

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In re C.W.W., 37 S.W.3d 467, 2000 Tenn. App. LEXIS 327 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2000).

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