In Re JMCA

31 S.W.3d 692, 2000 WL 1511719
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 12, 2000
Docket01-99-00208-CV
StatusPublished

This text of 31 S.W.3d 692 (In Re JMCA) 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 JMCA, 31 S.W.3d 692, 2000 WL 1511719 (Tex. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

31 S.W.3d 692 (2000)

In the Interest of J.M.C.A., V.C.R., M.R., and R.R., Jr.

No. 01-99-00208-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Houston (1st Dist.).

October 12, 2000.

*694 Alvin Saenz, Houston, Sheelah M. Wooten, Lake Jackson, Thomas "Jay" Wooten, Friendswood, Johnette Duff, Galveston, for Appellant.

Michael J. Guarino, B. Warren Goodson, Jr., Galveston, for Appellee.

Panel consists of Justices O'CONNOR, HEDGES, and PRICE.[*]

OPINION

MICHOL O'CONNOR, Justice.

The appellants, R.R. ("Father") and K.R. ("Mother"), appeal from an order terminating their parent-child relationships. We affirm.

Background

The Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services ("DPRS"), the appellee, filed several petitions to terminate the parent-child relationship between the Mother and her four children, J.M.C.A. (four years old), V.C.R. (three years old), M.R. (two years old), and R.R. (one year old), and between the Father and his three children V.C.R., M.R., and R.R. The DPRS also sought to terminate the parent-child relationship between J.M.C.A.'s father and J.M.C.A.[1]

The jury was asked broad-form questions as to both of the parents, separately, for each of the children: "Should the parent-child relationship between [parent 1] and [child 1] be terminated?" The jury answered, "Yes" to each question. The jury charge tracked Family Code section 161.001(1) in alleging the Mother and Father:

1. knowingly placed or knowingly allowed the children to remain in conditions or surroundings which endanger the physical or emotional well-being of the children; or

2. engaged in conduct or knowingly placed the children with persons who engaged in conduct which endangers the physical or emotional well-being of the children; or

*695 3. failed to support the children in accordance with his/her ability during a period of one (1) year ending within six (6) months of the date of the filing of this petition; or

4. constructively abandoned the children who have been in the permanent or temporary managing conservatorship of the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services or an authorized agency for not less than six (6) months, and:

(i) the department or authorized agency has made reasonable efforts to return the children to the parent;

(ii) the parent has not regularly visited or maintained significant contact with the children; and

(iii) the parent has demonstrated an inability to provide the children with a safe environment; or

5. failed to comply with the provisions of a court order that specifically established the actions necessary for the parent to obtain the return of children who have been in the permanent or temporary managing conservatorship of the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services for not less than nine months as a result of the children's removal from the parent under Chapter 262 for the abuse or neglect of the child.

The jury was also required to find that termination of the parent-child relationships be in the children's best interest.

Summary of Facts

On November 23, 1997, the Mother saw the Father sitting on J.M.C.A.'s bed with his pants down to his knees. J.M.C.A. was on the bed and wearing a shirt, but no underwear or pants. The Mother became upset and left the house. She did not take J.M.C.A. with her. After talking with a neighbor, the Mother went back to her house with the neighbor. The neighbor testified that J.M.C.A. was crying and upset, and said the Father "did something to her."

Several witnesses also testified that the Mother said she found the Father and J.M.C.A. in the bedroom, the Father had his pants down, J.M.C.A. did not have any clothes on, and there was Vaseline smeared on her genital area. J.M.C.A. told these witnesses the Father put the Vaseline on her, and put his "pee-pee" in her. The Mother called the police, and the Father was arrested for the sexual assault of J.M.C.A. and indecency with V.C.R.

The Mother took J.M.C.A. to the hospital immediately after the incident, where the treating physician determined that the examination results were "consistent with the types of acts described" by the Mother, and suggested that the Mother take J.M.C.A. to an abuse clinic for a more detailed exam. The next day, the Mother took J.M.C.A. to the ABC Clinic, where an expert determined that the child had been sexually abused.

The Mother left the Father's house after his arrest, and took the children to stay with her cousin. The cousin testified the Mother questioned J.M.C.A. several times about what happened. The cousin said the Mother did not want to believe J.M.C.A. and, as punishment, threatened to take J.M.C.A. back to the Father's house.

Mary Ramirez, the Child Protective Services (C.P.S.) sexual abuse investigator, said the Mother told her of another incident in which she found a "grease stain" in J.M.C.A.'s underwear, and J.M.C.A. had told the Mother that the Father "had done something to her back then." The Mother did not report that incident.

Ramirez told the Mother there was to be no contact between the Father and any of the children during the investigation. On December 4, 1997, however, the Mother returned with the children to live with the Father after he was released on bond. On December 5, Ramirez went to the home because C.P.S. had received a call that the Mother and children had returned to the *696 Father the night before. When Ramirez questioned the Mother about why she had returned, the Mother said she wanted all the charges against the Father dropped, they belonged together as a family, and she did not intend to leave. C.P.S. took the children into emergency custody.

Cathy Lynskey, the foster mother who took the children into her home, testified that J.M.C.A. said the Mother told her to say nothing happened to her.

Sufficiency of the Evidence

Standard of Review

Family Code section 161.001(1) lists 14 separate possible grounds for termination, using the disjunctive phrase "or." Subsection (2) adds "and ... that termination is in the best interest of the child." Tex.Fam.Code § 161.001(1), (2). Thus, the statute allows for termination of parental rights upon a finding that the parent engaged in conduct described in any one of the 14 sub-parts under section 161.001(1), plus a finding that termination is in the best interest of the child as required by section 161.001(2).

The termination of parental rights involves fundamental constitutional rights. Holick v. Smith, 685 S.W.2d 18, 20 (Tex.1985). Evidence supporting the findings to terminate parental rights must be clear and convincing, not just preponderate. Tex.Fam.Code § 161.001; In re G.M., 596 S.W.2d 846, 847 (Tex.1980); Harris v. Herbers, 838 S.W.2d 938, 941 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1992, no writ). The clear and convincing standard of proof is intentionally placed on the party seeking the termination of the parental rights, so as to create a higher burden to fulfill, because of the severity and permanence of the termination of the parent-child relationship.

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Bluebook (online)
31 S.W.3d 692, 2000 WL 1511719, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-jmca-texapp-2000.