In Re SW

920 N.E.2d 783, 2010 WL 363340
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 2, 2010
Docket52A02-0910-JV-1005
StatusPublished

This text of 920 N.E.2d 783 (In Re SW) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re SW, 920 N.E.2d 783, 2010 WL 363340 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

920 N.E.2d 783 (2010)

In the Matter of S.W., A Child in Need of Services, S.W., Appellant-Respondent,
v.
Indiana Department of Child Services, Appellee-Petitioner.

No. 52A02-0910-JV-1005.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

February 2, 2010.

*784 Kimberly A. Jackson, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Peter Diedrichs, Indiana Department of Child Services, Peru, IN, Attorney for Appellee.

OPINION

RILEY, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

*785 Appellant-Respondent, S.W.,[1] appeals the trial court's determination that she is a Child In Need of Services (CHINS).

We affirm.

ISSUES

S.W. raises two issues which we restate as follows:

(1) Whether the trial court erred by admitting evidence of S.W.'s drug use; and

(2) Whether the Indiana Department of Child Services Division of Miami County (DCS) presented sufficient evidence to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that S.W. is a CHINS.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On June 24, 2009, S.W. was seventeen years old. That evening, the Peru Police Department received a call from the mother of A.C., a juvenile female, reporting that A.C. had runaway. A.C.'s mother stated that A.C. had been last seen with her friend S.W. parked in a vehicle in front of S.W.'s home with an adult woman. Officer Gregory Martin (Officer Martin) of the Peru Police Department went to the home of S.W. about p.m. and asked S.W.'s father if he knew the whereabouts of S.W. He did not because he had been asleep, and told Officer Martin that he did not want to know. S.W.'s mother told Officer Martin that S.W. was probably out with a friend and was expected home by 11 p.m.

About the same time, Deputy Ronald Dausch (Deputy Dausch) of the Miami County Sheriff's Department went to check on a possible location for A.C. En route, he noticed S.W. and A.C. walking down the road in a rural area of the county about twelve miles from S.W.'s home, and he stopped. The girls stated that they had been at a boy's house and A.C.'s uncle was on his way to pick them up. Deputy Dausch took A.C. into protective custody, and asked S.W. for a phone number for her parents. Deputy Dausch called the phone number, her mother answered and he began explaining the situation. While doing so, S.W.'s father cut in and told Deputy Dausch they were not coming to pick up S.W. and hung up. Deputy Dausch took the girls to the Peru Police Department's station. A.C. was released from custody.

Angela Bokan (Bokan), a Family Case Manager with the DCS, met with S.W. at the police station and attempted to call S.W.'s parents several times after receiving the report from Deputy Dausch. She was unable to contact anyone. Bokan spoke with S.W. regarding her parents not answering the phone and S.W. told Bokan that her father was reacting in his typical manner. Bokan decided that it was best if S.W. was temporarily placed in shelter care and sought out and received an oral emergency detention order from the judicial officer on call. S.W. told Bokan that drug use and domestic violence had occurred in her home following DCS's involvement with her family approximately one year prior.

The next day, a hearing was held and the trial court ordered continued detention, appointed a special advocate for S.W., and authorized the filing of a CHINS petition by the DCS. On June 30, 2009, the DCS filed the CHINS petition. On July 8, 2009, the trial court held an initial hearing, found that continued detention was appropriate, but approved visitation of S.W. for her mother and father, and set a fact finding hearing on DCS's continued intervention for July 29, 2009.

*786 At the fact finding hearing, Deputy Dausch acknowledged that when he took S.W. into custody S.W. was not out beyond curfew and had committed no crime or infraction of any sort. At one point Deputy Dausch testified that he took S.W. to the police station because "anything could happen to her" in the rural location where he had found A.C. and S.W. walking. (Transcript p. 53). But later Deputy Dausch testified that he had been given express instructions to bring S.W. to the police station by "Child Protective Services." (Tr. p. 57). Bokan testified that Deputy Dausch had contacted her, but she had not instructed Deputy Dausch that S.W. needed to talk to her before she could be released. Bokan further testified that Deputy Dausch could have dropped S.W. off at home because "she didn't need to come down there and talk to [her]." (Tr. p. 88). However, after Bokan spoke with S.W., Bokan determined that S.W. did not want to go home and needed to be placed in a shelter facility for the time being.

During the hearing, the trial court admitted over objection evidence that S.W. had been given a drug test which indicated that S.W. had used marijuana. S.W. clarified that the marijuana in her system was present due to her drug usage at graduation parties which had occurred approximately one month prior to the incidents on June 24th.

At the close of the hearing the trial court took the matter under advisement. On July 30, 2009, the trial court issued a written order affirming DCS's intervention, ordered relative placement in the Peru school district so that S.W. could attend Peru High School, and set the matter for dispositional hearing on August 19, 2009. On August 19, 2009, the trial court held a hearing. The sole focus of the hearing was S.W.'s then current placement. She was living with her aunt, but a pre-dispositional statement submitted to the trial court stated that S.W. was staying with her parents. A representative for the DCS clarified that the aunt's home had been approved for S.W. also, and stated that DCS had no objection to S.W. residing there. At the close of the hearing, the trial court ordered S.W. to submit to a drug screen and set another hearing for December 16, 2009. Later that same day, the trial court issued its order on the DCS's CHINS petition. In doing so, the trial court incorporated findings from the DCS pre-dispositional report, specifically the paragraphs stating:

Reasons for Current DCS Involvement []: On June 24, 2009, at approximately 11:02 pm, the Miami County DCS Office received a concern involving 17-year [-] old [S.W.] According to Law Enforcement Officers, [S.W.] was located with another female juvenile who had been reported as a runaway. Officers contacted [S.W.'s] parents who informed the police that they did not want their daughter returned back home. Officers explained that [Father] hung-up the telephone on them and refused to answer the remaining phone calls. FCM Angela Bokan additionally attempted to contact [S.W.'s] family; however, they also would not answer any of her calls. [S.W.] was detained and placed at White's Residential and Family Services in Shelter Care.
* * *
Social Background [ ]: [S.W.] attends [] Church in Peru, Indiana. [S.W.] is friendly and gets along with her peers and her family. [S.W.] volunteers [] where her mother works. She enjoys working with the elderly residents.
* * *
The following DISPOSITIONAL OPTIONS were considered and evaluated *787

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
920 N.E.2d 783, 2010 WL 363340, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-sw-indctapp-2010.