In Re State Ex Rel. A.W.

2011 OK CIV APP 27, 250 P.3d 343
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 28, 2011
DocketNo. 107,390
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 2011 OK CIV APP 27 (In Re State Ex Rel. A.W.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re State Ex Rel. A.W., 2011 OK CIV APP 27, 250 P.3d 343 (Okla. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

JOHN F. FISCHER, Judge.

T1 Shannon Wilson (Mother) appeals the district court's termination of parental rights to her two minor children, M.W. and A.W. On review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the district court's termination.

BACKGROUND

12 The minor children were taken into custody by the State of Oklahoma in August 2006. 'The State filed a petition to have the children adjudicated deprived, based on allegations that the Mother left the children unattended in a vehicle "for approximately 20-25 minutes" in a casino parking lot while she went inside to get "free five dollars to buy cigarettes and milk," and that Mother "did not see any problem with" this, The petition alleged that the older child, A.W., who was nine years of age at the time, was left to watch the younger child, M.W., "on several occasions," was "left to be a caretaker" of the younger child, and that Mother did not work and received "disability due to her MS disease."

13 The petition further alleged Mother resided with the biological father's cousin, that they fought, drank beer, and took illegal drugs in the presence of the minor children. The biological father's cousin was on probation and "could be facing thirty years in prison." The biological father, Kevin Wilson, was incarcerated at the time the petition was filed.1 The petition alleged "a history of domestic violence between the parents in the presence of the minor children," and that the Father's "criminal history includes but is not limited to DUI, Possession of Controlled Drugs, Sexual Abuse of a Minor child, Assault and Battery upon a police officer." The State sought adjudication of deprived status of the minor children based on these allegations, and because "the parents of child[ren] have failed to provide a safe and appropriate home, shelter or environment, supervision, care, support, and general necessities for the proper care and maintenance of the child[ren}," and requested that the parents, having "adequate means of support," be ordered to pay child support. Mother stipulated to the petition, and the children were adjudicated deprived in November 2006 and placed in foster care.2

{ 4 The district court entered a treatment plan in January 2007, stating the conditions that needed to be corrected and the desired results of the treatment plan. The conditions to be corrected included: protection of the children "by proper supervision, and avoidance of harmful influences in role models and substances," providing children with "a safe and appropriate home with utilities," appropriate parenting skills to meet the children's needs, provision of medical and dental care, and strengthening of a support system to "include adequate resources for parenting." Mother received weekly visitation with the minor children. From January 2007 to April 2008, the State sought reunification as a permanency plan. In April 2008, State first recommended that "reunification should no longer be the goal." This was due to Mother's "repeated, unsuccessful attempts at interaction with the children; the children's own desires not to return to their mother's home ...; and the numerous reports by several previous therapists regarding this mother's inability to grasp developmental changes in her children...." State further recommended that visitations with A.W. be suspended because A.W. felt disconnected [346]*346and uncomfortable with Mother. Both children expressed a desire to therapists and case workers to no longer live with Mother.

T5 In May 2008, the attorney for the minor children filed a joint motion with the State to terminate parental rights based on 10 0.98.2001 section 7008-4.7 et seq., and 10 0.98. sections 7006-1.1(A)(5), (7), (15) and the Oklahoma Children's Code. The motion alleged Mother had "failed to correct the conditions leading to the minor children being adjudicated deprived," including: Mother had "failed to pay child support consistently and is in arrears," that despite completion of parenting classes Mother could not "demonstrate adequate parenting skills and decision making on behalf of the minor children," that Mother lacked "consistent monetary means to support herself and the minor children during the duration of the case," and Mother's failure "to provide appropriate documentation to the DHS worker regarding her physical disability, treatment plan and limitations."

16 A jury trial was conducted between May 7 and July 1, 2009. The jury returned a verdict finding "clear and convincing evidence" in favor of termination of parental rights to both children, based on the following statutory grounds:

1. The condition which lead [sic] to this child being adjudicated deprived has not been corrected, the condition being ne-gleet.3
2. [Mother] has willfully, failed, refused, or neglected to substantially contribute to the support of the child within twelve of the last fourteen months.
8. The child has been in foster care for fifteen of the most recent twenty-two months and it's in the child's best interest to do so.

The district judge entered an order July 8, 2009, terminating Mother's parental rights to the two minor children based on the July 1, 2009, jury verdict. Mother appeals the order, alleging violation of her due process rights because "she was not informed as to the conditions that needed correcting" in order for reunification to cceur, that she had "completed all of the requirements as requested" in the treatment plans, and failure to give her notice of any deficiencies was a violation of her rights. Mother further alleges she had changed the conditions that led to the initial adjudication of the children as deprived, by complying with her treatment plans. Additionally, Mother alleges that failure to put her on notice of a narcissistic personality disorder, to which one of State's witnesses testified at trial, violated her due process rights because she was not given an opportunity to treat the disorder.4

STANDARD OF REVIEW

17 The standard of review in an action to terminate parental rights is whether the district court's "findings rest on clear- and-convineing proof.'' In re S.B.C., 2002 OK 83, ¶¶ 5-6, 64 P.3d 1080, 1081-82 (emphasis omitted) (citing Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 769, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 1403, 71 L.Ed.2d 599 (1982)). This "heightened test that is accorded fundamental rights" must be applied before the "state may sever the rights of parents in their natural child...." Id. ¶¶ 5, 7, 64 P.3d at 1082. On review, we apply the same standard used in the district court. Id. ¶ 7, 64 P.3d at 1082. "Clear and convincing evidence is that measure or degree of proof which will produce in the mind of the trier of fact a firm belief or conviction as to the truth of the allegation sought to be established.'' In re C.G., 1981 OK 131, ¶ 17 n. 12, 637 P.2d 66, 71 n. 12.

T8 Due process requires notice that reasonably informs a parent that a "legally-protected interest may be adversely affected." Id. 637 P.2d at 68. "Any parent whose child is adjudged to occupy a legal status termed 'deprived must be judicially advised of those parental conduct norms [347]*347which he is expected to follow or eschew to recapture a legally unencumbered standing as a parent." Id. When the state moves to terminate parental rights, "it must provide the parents with fundamentally fair procedures." Santosky v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2011 OK CIV APP 27, 250 P.3d 343, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-state-ex-rel-aw-oklacivapp-2011.