In Re DS

176 S.W.3d 873, 2005 WL 2472046
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 6, 2005
Docket2-04-372-CV
StatusPublished

This text of 176 S.W.3d 873 (In Re DS) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re DS, 176 S.W.3d 873, 2005 WL 2472046 (Tex. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

176 S.W.3d 873 (2005)

In the Interest of D.S., Jr., a Child.

No. 2-04-372-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Fort Worth.

October 6, 2005.

*874 Wes Dauphinot, Arlington, for appellant.

Tim Curry, Criminal Dist. Atty., Charles M. Mallin, Anne Swenson, David M. Curl, Cindy Williams, Asst. Criminal Dist. Attys, Fort Worth, for state.

Panel A: LIVINGSTON, HOLMAN, and GARDNER, JJ.

OPINION

TERRIE LIVINGSTON, Justice.

Introduction

Appellant Amanda W. appeals the trial court's order terminating her parental rights to her child, D.S., Jr. In one point she argues that there is factually insufficient evidence to support the trial court's *875 finding that termination was in D.S.'s best interest. We affirm.

Background Facts

Appellant is D.S.'s mother. D.S. was two years old at the time of trial. On June 4, 2003, Child Protective Services (CPS) received a referral of neglectful supervision of D.S. by appellant; the referral also showed that appellant was using crack cocaine. On June 5, 2003, CPS removed D.S. from appellant's custody and placed him in foster care after appellant admitted using drugs, but not in D.S.'s presence. CPS removed D.S. because appellant had three other children in foster care, she was continuing to use drugs, her recent drug tests were positive, and she had been arrested for DWI while D.S. was in the car with her.

CPS had previously removed appellant's three other children, J.W., S.A., and M.W., before D.S. was born, after an officer had seen M.W. being held out of a window and suspected that appellant was using drugs. Appellant entered First Choice Program, a program through Community Addiction Treatment Services (CATS), where she stayed for thirteen months. D.S. was born during appellant's stay at First Choice, but he was not immediately removed from appellant's care because he was born drug-free and appellant was cooperating and not using drugs. After being discharged, appellant entered an after-care program where she began to test positive for cocaine. Initially, CPS was promoting family reunification with J.W., S.A., and M.W.; however, after appellant began to test positive, it pursued termination. Appellant's parental rights to J.W., S.A., and M.W. were terminated on September 3, 2003 for placing the children in surroundings—and engaging in conduct—which endangered the children.

In June 2003, appellant re-entered First Choice, but was discharged in August or September 2003 after failing to complete the program. She failed to attend regular meetings, attending only ten out of the forty-eight required meetings.

In September or October 2003, appellant entered Victory Outreach, which appellant initially described to CPS as a rehabilitation program. However, CPS discovered that Victory Outreach did not offer drug programs and was more like a shelter. Appellant complained that she could not complete the Victory Outreach program because of the time deadlines on her case with CPS, because she was having transportation problems, and because Victory Outreach would not let her complete the program the way she wanted. In June 2004, Kathleen Tucker, a CPS caseworker, was informed that appellant was no longer at Victory Outreach and did not officially complete the program.

In May 2004, after leaving Victory Outreach, appellant told CPS that she was trying to get back into CATS a second time. Appellant attended five out of the twenty-four group meetings and two out of the three individual meetings she was required to attend. In July 2004, CPS contacted CATS and learned that appellant had not been regularly attending the meetings and had been discharged.

Appellant often failed to comply with CPS's requests. CPS's service plan required appellant to stay sober for six months, obtain adequate housing, obtain employment, and complete a psychological exam. On several occasions, she refused urine analysis when requested by CPS. Additionally, she failed to provide CPS with pay stubs to show that she was working. Further, the evidence shows that the only part of the service plan that appellant successfully completed was the psychological exam.

*876 In addition, appellant and D.S.'s father, Darrell S., claimed that they were separated, but CPS later found out that they were living together. On September 28, 2004, Susan Marbitt, a CPS caseworker, arrived at Darrell S.'s brother and sister-in-law's house where appellant and Darrell S. were staying, and his sister-in-law would not allow her to look through the house to see if it was adequate for D.S. Appellant also failed to return some phone calls to CPS.

However, appellant made the scheduled visitations with D.S. more often than not. Out of the seventy-three available visits, appellant made forty-two of them, but was late to eight visits.

The trial court terminated appellant's and Darrell S.'s parental rights on November 11, 2004. The trial court found, among other things, that it was in D.S.'s best interest to terminate the parent-child relationship. Darrell S. is not a party to this appeal.

Statement of Points

The State contends that this case should be dismissed because appellant failed to file a statement of points. See TEX. FAM.CODE ANN. § 263.405(b) (Vernon 2002). Family code section 263.405(b) states that "[n]ot later than the 15th day after the date a final order is signed by the trial judge, a party intending to appeal the order must file with the trial court a statement of the point or points on which the party intends to appeal. The statement may be combined with a motion for a new trial." Id. Historically, this court has held that the failure to file a statement of points is not a defect that prevents this court from addressing issues on appeal.[1]

The State argues that the newly added family code section 263.405(i)[2] shows that the legislature has abrogated this court's previous opinions holding otherwise. Section (i) states that

[t]he appellate court may not consider any issue that was not specifically presented to the trial court in a timely filed statement of the points on which the party intends to appeal or in a statement combined with a motion for new trial. For purposes of this subsection, a claim that a judicial decision is contrary to the evidence or that the evidence is factually or legally insufficient is not sufficiently specific to preserve an issue for appeal.[3]

But section 263.405(i) applies only to an appeal that is filed on or after September 1, 2005.[4] The enacting legislation specifically states that "[a]n appeal of a final order ... filed before the effective date [of September 1, 2005] is governed by the law in effect on the date the appeal was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose."[5] Here, the appeal was filed on November 23, 2004, before the effective date of section 263.405(i); therefore, this appeal is governed by our prior decisions construing the former version of section 263.405, which do not preclude us *877 from considering appellant's point. See, e.g., In re S.J.G., 124 S.W.3d at 243.

Factual Sufficiency Standard of Review

In her sole point, appellant argues that the evidence is factually insufficient to support the trial court's finding that termination of the parent-child relationship between appellant and D.S. is in D.S.'s best interest.

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Bluebook (online)
176 S.W.3d 873, 2005 WL 2472046, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-ds-texapp-2005.