In re J.E.

745 A.2d 1250, 2000 Pa. Super. 20, 2000 Pa. Super. LEXIS 70
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 27, 2000
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 745 A.2d 1250 (In re J.E.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re J.E., 745 A.2d 1250, 2000 Pa. Super. 20, 2000 Pa. Super. LEXIS 70 (Pa. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

HUDOCK, J.:

¶ 1 R.E. (Mother) and R.E. (Father) appeal from the final decree that terminated their parental rights with regard to their minor children, J.E. and E.E. (the children). We affirm.

¶ 2 The factual findings of the court below may be summarized as follows: E.E. was born on January 24, 1988, and J.E. was born on April 21, 1986. Mother is the natural parent of the children. Father is the putative parent of the children. Lehigh County Office of Children and Youth Services (CYS) initially became involved with the family in 1986, after receiving reports of truancy and behavior problems regarding the parties’ oldest son.1 At that time, mental health issues with [1252]*1252regard to Mother were identified. CYS later received referrals concerning the family in 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994 and ultimately in February of 1995. On February 23, 1995, the Allentown Police took emergency custody of E.E. and J.E. because of reports of domestic violence within the home.2

¶ 3 The children have been in the custody of CYS continuously since February 24, 1995. Numerous issues were identified at the time of placement. Specifically, the parties had been engaging in serious domestic altercations, and occasionally Father had been excluded from the home due to Protection from Abuse orders. Further, Mother’s mental health status was creating havoc within the home.

¶ 4 At the adjudication hearing on March 9, 1995, and subsequently at the dispositional review hearings on September 5,1995, December 4, 1995, October 10, 1996, May 31, 1996, December 10, 1996, September 30, 1997, and March 25, 1998, the court continued the placement goal in the case as “return to home.” Initially, the court ordered Mother to undergo a psychological evaluation and follow through with all recommendations for services, participate in marital counseling with Father, visit with the children and cooperate fully with CYS. Mother was later ordered to attend and complete treatment at Haven House, as well as engage in mental health treatment through the Base Service Unit and follow through with any recommendations for treatment, including family therapy.

¶ 5 The court ordered that Father participate in services as well. Specifically, Father was to participate in and complete a parenting education class, undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation and follow through with all recommendations for services, participate in marital counseling with Mother, visit with the children and cooperate fully with CYS. Father was also ordered to attend and complete domestic violence counseling at Confront, as well as engage in family therapy.

¶ 6 Pursuant to the court’s order, Mother was referred to Dr. Frank Dattilio, a clinical psychologist, for evaluation on May 26 and May 31, 1995. Dr. Dattilio found Mother to be guarded, defensive, histrionic, dependent, aggressive and volatile. According to Dr. Dattilio, Mother has a history of psychological illness, but possesses a tendency to deny her psychological problems. Mother suffers from a bipolar disorder that causes her to display sporadic behavior and emotions. Dr. Dattilio also expressed that Mother exhibits poor judgment and has difficulty applying her knowledge of parenting to real life situations. In addition, Dr. Dattilio found Mother to prioritize her own needs before those of her children.

¶ 7 On February 12 and February 18, 1998, Dr. Dattilio reevaluated Mother. He found that her condition had deteriorated since her initial evaluation in 1995. Dr. Dattilio found Mother to be belligerent, depressive, short-tempered, distrustful, immature and prone to volatile acting-out behaviors. He opined that Mother lacks in her parenting ability despite her attendance at parenting classes. In addition, Mother’s preoccupation centers around the children returning home, as opposed to what specifically needs to change in the home environment. According to Dr. Dattilio, Mother’s failure to see how her mental illness interferes with her parenting and ability to provide the necessary consistency and structure despite the services and medications offered, are of great concern. He also expressed concern about Mother’s manipulation of the doses of medication she is prescribed because doing so destroys its efficacy. Finally, Dr. Datti-lio explained that even if Mother took the appropriate medicines as recommended, there was no guarantee that her condition would ever improve.

[1253]*1253¶ 8 Father was also referred to Dr. Dattilio for evaluation on May 31 and June 7,1995. Dr. Dattilio found Father to present a fairly healthy personality profile. He opined that Father struggles with frustration over Mother’s mental condition and even holds some animosity and resentment over her illness. Overall, Dr. Dattilio found that based on the history of the family and in light of the circumstances, it was uncertain that the parties would ever be consistent and competent caregivers. Specifically, he opined that Mother’s mental illness and Father’s response thereto directly and adversely impact on their parenting abilities.

¶ 9 Pursuant to court order, the family was referred to Dr. Phillip J. Kinney, a psychologist, for family therapy sessions on December 10, 1996. The goal of these therapy sessions was reunification. This goal was to be achieved by increasing communication within the family, assisting the parents in feeling and displaying empathy and sympathy for the children, diminishing the anger that the children possess toward their family and improving parenting skills and attitudes. Dr. Kinney explained that the children are extremely scared of Mother’s illness and of the domestic violence between Mother and Father. Dr. Kinney found that the unsupervised visitations with Mother and Father caused emotional damage and a worsening of the fear in the children. After approximately fifteen months, Dr. Kinney found that both Mother and Father had made little progress overall toward achieving the goal of reunification, and that the problems of anger, marital discord and mental illness continue to persist. More specifically, he explained that slight progress had been made up until the last five to six months of therapy, at which point a severe regression occurred. Ultimately, Dr. Kinney opined that reunifying the family was unachievable.

¶ 10 The parties also attended marital therapy sessions through CYS since September 28, 1995. The counselor, Richard Drabic, indicated that their marital relationship is plagued with negative forms of communication and escalating negative emotions. He further articulated Mother’s inability to accept her mental illness and the necessity of managing the manifestations of the illness when they occur.

¶ 11 The children have attended individual counseling sessions through Valley Youth House since February 2, 1998. Their counselor, Melanie Himmelberger, explained that the children would manifest physiological symptoms such as hives, stomachaches and memory lapses, in response to their fear of returning to their parents’ care. Based on the knowledge and information that she attained from these sessions, Himmelberger expressed the need for permanency in the children’s lives.

¶ 12 On April 25, 1998, the court again reviewed the case and, at that time, changed the placement goal for the children to adoption. CYS had requested this change because, over the course of almost four years, the parties had only periodically engaged in the required services, and did not successfully reach or progress toward the goal of reunification.

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Bluebook (online)
745 A.2d 1250, 2000 Pa. Super. 20, 2000 Pa. Super. LEXIS 70, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-je-pasuperct-2000.