In Re Juvenile 2006-674

931 A.2d 585, 156 N.H. 1, 2007 N.H. LEXIS 136
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedAugust 17, 2007
Docket2006-674
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 931 A.2d 585 (In Re Juvenile 2006-674) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Juvenile 2006-674, 931 A.2d 585, 156 N.H. 1, 2007 N.H. LEXIS 136 (N.H. 2007).

Opinions

HICKS, J.

The respondent, father of the juvenile, appeals an order of the Hillsborough County Probate Court (Patten, J.) terminating his parental rights for failure to correct conditions that had led to a prior finding of neglect under RSA chapter 169-C (2002 & Supp. 2006). See RSA 170-C:5, III (2002). We affirm.

The following facts were either found by the trial court or appear in the record before us. The juvenile was bom on May 20,1998. On September 9, 1998, the New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) filed a petition for neglect against the juvenile’s mother alleging that the juvenile was in imminent danger and “likely to suffer additional serious impairment” due to the mother’s “continued abuse of alcohol.” As a result, the juvenile was placed with a foster family with whom he has remained since October 13,1998.

The respondent has been involved in the abuse and neglect proceedings in the district court since their inception. His reported concerns about the mother were recounted in the supporting affidavit to the abuse and neglect petition, and he appeared at the adjudicatory hearing on the petition. For some six years after the finding of neglect against the mother, DCYF, at the court’s behest at numerous review hearings, made repeated efforts to foster conditions under which the respondent could assume full custody of the juvenile. For example, the respondent was provided with various forms of assistance, including parent aides and home based services. He was ordered to participate in parenting classes, maintain appropriate housing, remain sober, and continue counseling “to address ... his poor interpersonal skills and his parenting abilities.”

The respondent’s “poor interpersonal skills” were a primary concern throughout the abuse and neglect proceedings. According to a court-ordered psychological evaluation, the respondent “has an extensive history [3]*3of mental illness with an array of diagnoses assigned over the years: Bipolar Disorder, Mixed Personality Disorder with paranoid, histrionic, narcissistic, dependant, and/or borderline traits, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Depression, and a provisional diagnosis of Schizo-affective Disorder.” The Nashua District Court {Howorth, J.) noted that a “feature of [the respondent’s personality] disorder is a marked inability to avoid hostile and intimidating behavior when confronted with persons and situations which he regards as being non-supportive.”

On December 19, 2000, the District Court (Howorth, J.) established a “provisional permanency plan of reunification” of the juvenile with the respondent. Sometime prior to April 2003, the respondent sought legal and physical custody through a “Bill F.” proceeding in the Nashua District Court. See In re Bill F., 145 N.H. 267 (2000); see also RSA 169-C:19-e (2002). The District Court {Leary, J.) found that the respondent was “not fit to assume full custody of his son at this time.”

Nevertheless, reunification of the respondent and the juvenile remained the goal through at least July 16, 2003. The respondent’s behavior, however, continued to be problematic. Orders from a post-permanency review hearing before the District Court (Leary, J.) noted that “[r]eports from DCYF, CASA [(Court Appointed Special Advocates)], and SNHS [(Southern New Hampshire Services)] document ongoing and repeated incidents of inappropriate and threatening actions by [the respondent].” These actions apparently included “telling a worker at SNHS that ‘he [the respondent] could be one of those people you hear about on top of a roof shooting people.’”

On July 9, 2004, the District Court {Leary, J.) entered a permanency order finding the respondent “unfit to perform the parental duties required to provide for the financial and emotional support for [the juvenile].” The court opined that “[b]ased on the history of [the respondent’s] behavior, and the nature of his diagnosis, it is highly unlikely that this behavior will change in the future.” On October 4, 2004, the District Court (Leary, J.) ordered that DCYF was no longer required to make reasonable efforts toward reunification between the juvenile and either parent and authorized DCYF to initiate the termination of parental rights.

The probate court terminated the respondent’s parental rights on August 3, 2006, finding beyond a reasonable doubt that, “after a finding of child neglect under RSA 169-C, [the respondent] has failed to correct the conditions that [led] to the finding of neglect, within 12 months, indeed, within 6 years, of that finding, despite reasonable efforts under the direction of the district court to rectify the conditions.”

[4]*4On appeal, the respondent argues: (1) that the trial court impermissibly expanded the grounds for terminating parental rights under RSA 170-C:5, III, thereby violating his state and federal due process and equal protection rights; and (2) that there was insufficient evidence to establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the respondent had failed to correct conditions of neglect.

“Before a court may order the termination of a parent’s rights, the petitioning party must prove a statutory ground for termination beyond a reasonable doubt.” In re Juvenile 2003-195, 150 N.H. 644, 648 (2004). Under the statutory ground alleged in the petition against the respondent, parental rights may be terminated when “[t]he parents, subsequent to a finding of child neglect or abuse under RSA 169-C, have failed to correct the conditions leading to such a finding within 12 months of the finding despite reasonable efforts under the direction of the district court to rectify the conditions.” RSA 170-C:5, III. Once the probate court has found the petitioning party’s burden of proof to be satisfied, “it must then consider whether termination is in the child’s best interest.” Juvenile 2003-195,150 N.H. at 648. “We will not disturb the probate court’s decree unless it is unsupported by the evidence or plainly erroneous as a matter of law.” Id.

The respondent argues that “the trial court improperly expanded the statutory definitions of RSA 170-C:5 to accommodate a theory of termination of parental rights not authorized by the statute.” He contends that the court erroneously accepted the State’s theory tying the district court’s prior finding, at the Bill F. hearing, of the respondent’s unfitness “to allegations of a failure to correct conditions of neglect, as creating the basis to terminate” his parental rights. We disagree.

The petition for termination of the respondent’s parental rights alleged that “[p]ursuant to RSA 169-C:19-e, [the respondent] was found by the Nashua District Court ... not fit to assume full custody of [the juvenile].” The petition clearly stated, however, that the ground for termination was failure to correct conditions of neglect pursuant to RSA 170-C:5, III. The probate court also clearly ruled that it did not base the termination of the respondent’s parental rights upon the outcome of the Bill F. hearing. Rather, the court stated:

[The respondent’s] actions and inactions found by the district court in its orders on the fitness question under RSA 169-C:19-e, ... and the permanency hearing order leading to the termination of parental rights proceedings ... are facts presented as evidence, among other evidence presented, for a determination [5]

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Bluebook (online)
931 A.2d 585, 156 N.H. 1, 2007 N.H. LEXIS 136, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-juvenile-2006-674-nh-2007.