In re: J.A.M.

816 S.E.2d 901, 259 N.C. App. 810
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedJune 5, 2018
DocketCOA16-563-2
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 816 S.E.2d 901 (In re: J.A.M.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re: J.A.M., 816 S.E.2d 901, 259 N.C. App. 810 (N.C. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinions

ARROWOOD, Judge.

*811This case comes before us on remand from the North Carolina Supreme Court for reconsideration and for proper application of the appellate standard of review to the trial court's findings and conclusions of law. On remand, we consider respondent-mother's appeal from an order adjudicating her daughter, juvenile J.A.M., neglected and ceasing all future reunification efforts with respondent-mother. After careful review, we affirm.

I. Background

Respondent-mother has a long history of involvement with Mecklenburg Department of Social Services, Youth and Family Services ("YFS") that began in 2007 due to allegations of domestic violence. Since then, YFS' involvement with respondent-mother has been primarily related to her history of violent relationships with the fathers of her previous six children, in which the children witnessed domestic violence, and also were caught in the middle of physical altercations. During this time, respondent-mother repeatedly declined YFS services and continued to deny, minimize, and avoid talking about the violence. The most serious incident of violence occurred in June 2012 when "following another domestic violence incident between herself and" one of her children's father, respondent-mother placed one of her children "in an incredibly unsafe situation sleeping on the sofa with [his father] for the night, which resulted in [the child] suffering severe, life-threatening injuries, including multiple skull fractures, at the hands of [the father.]" Matter of J.A.M. , 370 N.C. at 465, 809 S.E.2d at 580. After observing the severity of the injuries the following morning, respondent-mother "did not dial 911 for over two hours[,]" and, "[a]fterwards, she refused to acknowledge [the child's] 'significant special needs' that resulted from his injuries, claiming 'there is nothing wrong with him,' and proceeded to have another child with [the same father] in 2013 when he was out *812on bond for charges of felony child abuse." Id. at 465, 809 S.E.2d at 580. Subsequently, on 21 April 2014, respondent-mother's parental rights were terminated to her six children, largely because she failed "to take any steps to change the pattern of domestic violence and lack of stability for the children since 2007." Id. at 465, 809 S.E.2d at 580 (internal quotation marks omitted).

YFS received a report on 25 February 2016 that respondent-mother had given birth to J.A.M. On 29 February 2016, DSS filed a juvenile petition alleging neglect of J.A.M. The trial court conducted a contested adjudication hearing on 30 March 2016. The trial court received the adjudication and termination of parental rights orders for respondent-mother *903and J.A.M.'s father's other children into evidence. J.A.M.'s father's criminal record was also admitted into evidence.

Respondent-mother testified at the hearing, vaguely acknowledging that she made " 'bad decisions' and 'bad choices' in the past, without offering specific examples except for 'giv[ing] men benefits of the doubts.' " Matter of J.A.M. , 370 N.C. at 465, 809 S.E.2d at 580. She also testified:

Q. Why were your rights terminated?
A. Because when my child came back into-my kids came back into custody, due to my child being physical injury [sic ] by his father [ ]. That's-
Q. So your understanding is that your rights to your six other children was-were terminated because of one child being physically abused?
A. Oh, yes, ma'am. ...
Q. And what role do you think you played in your child getting hurt by that father?
A. I was upstairs sleeping.
Q. Okay.
A. I didn't have-I didn't have a role into what my child being hurt [sic ]. I didn't play a role in that.
Q. And so basically, do you feel that your rights to the six other children, your rights were unjustly terminated?
A. Yes, ma'am. I do feel that way.

*813On 30 March 2016, the trial court entered an order finding that J.A.M.'s parents had failed to make any substantive progress in their prior cases, and both parents declined to work with YFS and reported not needing any services. The trial court also found:

Previously [respondent-mother]'s children were returned to her care and ended up back in [YFS'] custody due to the abuse of one of the juveniles and it appeared [respondent-mother] was not demonstrating skills learned by service providers. [Father] did not dispute allegations in the petition. [Respondent-mother] has a [history] of dating violent men and [father] in this case has been found guilty at least twice for assault on a female. [Respondent-mother] acknowledged being aware [father] had been charged [with] assaulting his sister but [respondent-mother] said she never asked [father] if he assaulted his sister despite testifying about the "red flags" she learned in DV servs. [Respondent-mother] testified to having a child [with] the man who abused one of her kids. Dept. [sic ] received a total of 12 referrals regarding [respondent-mother] and at least 11 referrals pertained to domestic violence. Ct. [sic ] took into consideration all the exhibits (1-4) submitted by YFS when making its decision. To date, [respondent-mother] failed to acknowledge her role in the juvs. [sic ] entering custody and her rights subsequently being terminated.

Based on these findings of fact, the trial court adjudicated J.A.M. neglected:

The child(ren) is/are neglected in that Juv. [sic ] resides in an environment in which both parents have a [history] of domestic violence/assault and each parent had a child enter [YFS] custody that was deemed abused while in the care of each parent. All of juveniles' siblings were adjudicated [n]eglected. No evidence the parents have remedied the injurious environment they created for their other children.

The trial court placed J.A.M. in DSS custody and ceased all future reunification efforts with respondent-mother. Respondent-mother appeals.

In Matter of J.A.M. , --- N.C. App. ----, 795 S.E.2d 262 (2016) (" J.A.M. I "), this Court first considered respondent-mother's appeal, reversing the trial court's order, holding the findings did not support the conclusion that J.A.M. was neglected, and the trial court's findings of fact were *814not supported by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence. Id. at ----, 795 S.E.2d at 266. The Supreme Court determined that our Court misapplied the standard of review in J.A.M. I

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Bluebook (online)
816 S.E.2d 901, 259 N.C. App. 810, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-jam-ncctapp-2018.