In Re: S.R.S., a Minor

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 20, 2017
DocketIn Re: S.R.S., a Minor No. 2786 EDA 2016
StatusUnpublished

This text of In Re: S.R.S., a Minor (In Re: S.R.S., a Minor) 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: S.R.S., a Minor, (Pa. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

J-S38002-17

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

IN RE: S.R.S., A MINOR : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : : : : APPEAL OF: C.A.S., MOTHER : No. 2786 EDA 2016

Appeal from the Order and Decree July 25, 2016 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Family Court Juvenile Division at No(s): CP-51-AP-0000018-2016, CP-51-DP-0001672-2013, FID: 51-FN-003313-2013

IN RE: S.N.G., A MINOR : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : : : : APPEAL OF: C.A.S., MOTHER : No. 2793 EDA 2016

Appeal from the Order and Decree July 25, 2016 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Family Court Juvenile Division at No(s): CP-51-AP-0000017-2016, CP-51-DP-0001511-2014, FID: 51-FN-003313-2013

BEFORE: GANTMAN, P.J., SHOGAN, J., and FITZGERALD, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY GANTMAN, P.J.: FILED JUNE 20, 2017

Appellant, C.A.S. (“Mother”), appeals from the orders and the decrees,

entered in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Family Court

Juvenile Division, which changed the family goal to adoption and granted the

petitions of the Department of Human Services (“DHS”) for involuntary

termination of Mother’s parental rights to her minor children, S.R.S. and

___________________________

*Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court. J-S38002-17

S.N.G. (“Children”).1 We affirm.

In its opinion, the Juvenile Court correctly set forth the relevant facts

and procedural history of this case. We add only the following: procedurally,

DHS filed petitions on January 7, 2016, to change the family goal from

reunification to adoption and involuntarily terminate Mother’s parental rights

to Children. Mother timely filed notices of appeal and concise statements of

errors complained of on appeal per Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a)(2)(i) on August 23,

2016.

Mother raises two issues for our review:

THE [JUVENILE] COURT ERRED AND/OR ABUSED ITS DISCRETION BY ENTERING AN ORDER ON JULY 25, 2016, ____________________________________________

1 The trial court held a goal change and termination hearing for Children on July 25, 2016, changed the family goal from reunification to adoption, and involuntarily terminated Mother’s parental rights to Children. Mother timely filed notices of appeal. Notwithstanding the initial appeal filing date, the appeal was not listed for disposition due to the delay in transmittal of the certified record to this Court. The certified record was first due on September 22, 2016. After initial contact with the trial court, it informed this Court that the trial court had not started the opinion yet. Following numerous requests for updates, this Court finally received the certified record on February 15, 2017. As a result, the briefing schedule for this case was delayed by nearly five months. Further delay occurred when Mother’s counsel requested a thirty-day extension, but received only a two-week extension, and then failed to file Mother’s appellate brief, which prompted this Court to file an abandonment order on April 3, 2017. Counsel untimely filed Mother’s appellate brief on April 7, 2017; this Court vacated the abandonment order on April 12, 2017. We offer this procedural history to explain the delay in the resolution of this child-fast-track appeal. See In re T.S.M., 620 Pa. 602, 609 n.7, 71 A.3d 251, 255 n.7 (2013) (reproaching this Court for unexplained delays in disposition of cases involving at-risk children, causing them to remain in stasis for substantial, unnecessary time).

-2- J-S38002-17

INVOLUNTARILY TERMINATING THE PARENTAL RIGHTS OF MOTHER…. MORE SPECIFICALLY, THE [JUVENILE] COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION AS SUBSTANTIAL, SUFFICIENT AND CREDIBLE EVIDENCE WAS PRESENTED AT THE TIME OF TRIAL WHICH WOULD HAVE SUBSTANTIATED DENYING THE PETITION FOR GOAL CHANGE/TERMINATION. [DHS] HAS FAILED TO MEET ITS BURDEN FOR TERMINATION BY CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE UNDER 23 PA.C.S.[A.] SECTIONS 2511(A)(1) AND (2) BECAUSE THE EVIDENCE WAS PRESENTED THAT [MOTHER] HAD SUBSTANTIALLY MET HER [FAMILY SERVICE PLAN] GOALS AND THEREBY REMEDIED HER SITUATION. FURTHERMORE, THE [JUVENILE] COURT ERRED BY FINDING THAT MOTHER DID NOT HAVE THE CAPACITY TO PARENT.

THE [JUVENILE] COURT ERRED AND/OR ABUSED ITS DISCRETION BY TERMINATING THE PARENTAL RIGHTS OF MOTHER AND CHANGING [CHILDREN’S] GOAL TO ADOPTION, PURSUANT TO 23 PA.C.S.A. SECTIONS 2511(B) WHERE DHS FAILED TO PROVE CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE THAT INVOLUNTARY TERMINATING [MOTHER’S] PARENTAL RIGHTS AND GOAL CHANGE TO ADOPTION BEST SERVED THE EMOTIONAL NEEDS AND WELFARE OF…CHILDREN. EVIDENCE WAS PRESENTED THAT…CHILDREN HAD A BOND WITH…MOTHER WHICH WOULD BE HARMFUL TO…[CHILDREN] TO SEVER.

(Mother’s Brief at 5).

Appellate review of goal change decisions implicates the following

principles:

On appeal, goal change decisions are subject to an abuse of discretion standard of review. In re N.C., 909 A.2d 818, 822 (Pa.Super. 2006).

In order to conclude that the trial court abused its discretion, we must determine that the court’s judgment was “manifestly unreasonable,” that the court did not apply the law, or that the court’s action was “a result of partiality, prejudice, bias or ill will,”

-3- J-S38002-17

as shown by the record. We are bound by the trial court’s findings of fact that have support in the record. The trial court, not the appellate court, is charged with the responsibilities of evaluating credibility of the witnesses and resolving any conflicts in the testimony. In carrying out these responsibilities, the trial court is free to believe all, part, or none of the evidence. When the trial court’s findings are supported by competent evidence of record, we will affirm, “even if the record could also support an opposite result.”

Id. at 822-23 (internal citations omitted).

The Juvenile Act controls the disposition of dependent children. In re

R.P., 957 A.2d 1205, 1217 (Pa.Super. 2008). Section 6351 provides in

relevant part:

§ 6351. Disposition of dependent child

* * *

(f) Matters to be determined at permanency hearing.—At each permanency hearing, a court shall determine all of the following:

(1) The continuing necessity for and appropriateness of the placement.

(2) The appropriateness, feasibility and extent of compliance with the permanency plan developed for the child.

(3) The extent of progress made toward alleviating the circumstances which necessitated the original placement.

(4) The appropriateness and feasibility of the current placement goal for the child.

(5) The likely date by which the placement goal for the child might be achieved.

-4- J-S38002-17

(5.1) Whether reasonable efforts were made to finalize the permanency plan in effect.

(6) Whether the child is safe.

(9) If the child has been in placement for at least 15 of the last 22 months or the court has determined that aggravated circumstances exist and that reasonable efforts to prevent or eliminate the need to remove the child from the child’s parent, guardian or custodian or to preserve and reunify the family need not be made or continue to be made, whether the county agency has filed or sought to join a petition to terminate parental rights and to identify, recruit, process and approve a qualified family to adopt the child unless:

(i) the child is being cared for by a relative best suited to the physical, mental and moral welfare of the child;

(ii) the county agency has documented a compelling reason for determining that filing a petition to terminate parental rights would not serve the needs and welfare of the child; or

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Bluebook (online)
In Re: S.R.S., a Minor, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-srs-a-minor-pasuperct-2017.