In Re the Interest of R.F.

115 S.W.3d 804
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 29, 2003
DocketNo. 05-02-01677-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by90 cases

This text of 115 S.W.3d 804 (In Re the Interest of R.F.) 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 the Interest of R.F., 115 S.W.3d 804 (Tex. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion By

Justice FRANCIS.

The Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services petitioned to terminate the parental rights of Crystal Fleming to her two sons, R.F. and L.C. The jury found Fleming had endangered her children and termination of her parental rights was in their best interests. In three issues, she challenges the factual sufficiency of the evidence to support those findings. We affirm.

Fleming was seventeen years old when she gave birth to R.F. Eleven months later, L.C. was born. The Department removed both children from Fleming’s care at birth and filed petitions to terminate her rights. At trial, the Department relied heavily on Fleming’s own eight-year history as a child in the Department’s care to show a continuing course of conduct that endangered her children.

Fleming had been in the Department’s care since age ten, having been physically abused by her father and sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend. From the beginning, her relationship with the Department was shaky. Fleming ran away from her first foster home and, over the next eight years, was repeatedly transferred from placement to placement because of disruptive and violent behavior. Evidence showed Fleming repeatedly (1) ran away from placements, (2) assaulted or threatened to assault staff and peers, (3) attempted suicide, and (4) was detained in juvenile facilities for criminal offenses. She had been diagnosed as bipolar, ADHD, and as “oppositional defiant.”

In June 2000, the Department placed her in a therapeutic group home, Our Friends Place. Within two months, she ran away. During this time Fleming became pregnant with her first child. When the Department found her seven days later, she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where she told doctors she used marijuana. One day after her return to Our Friends Place, Fleming assaulted a staff member and attempted suicide by cutting her wrist with a razor.

The Department next placed Fleming in a higher-care residential treatment facility. One month later, the facility asked that she be removed after she tested positive for marijuana and because it learned she was pregnant. Because of the pregnancy, placement options were limited, but the Department was able to locate a substance [807]*807abuse treatment center where Fleming and her baby, once born, could stay at least until she reached majority and perhaps longer. The facility was structured and had a staff that could supervise Fleming with her child. The Department explained to Fleming that the placement was a “last shot” for her. Fleming did not believe she had a drug problem and despite the earlier warning, refused to comply with the program. Within just a few days, Fleming threatened to cut her wrist with a nail file and attempted to run away. She was again hospitalized and told doctors she had been using “wack,” marijuana, and codeine, but said she stopped using drugs when she found out she was pregnant.

After her release, Fleming lived briefly with her older sister and then moved in with two men, one her boyfriend at the time. During her pregnancy, she sought no prenatal care although the Department instructed her about Medicaid and the availability of such care. In April 2001, R.F. was born prematurely. The Department learned of R.F.’s birth when it received a physical abuse referral that reflected Fleming tested positive for marijuana at the time of his birth. R.F. did not test positive for drugs. The Department, believing R.F. was at risk because of Fleming’s continuing course of self-destructive conduct and her unpreparedness to mother a child, removed R.F. and placed him in foster care.

The Department’s initial goal was to reunite mother and child, and services were offered to Fleming to realize that goal. The Department set up a service plan for Fleming in May 2001, including (1) weekly visitation with R.F., (2) obtaining her GED and job training to support herself, (8) obtaining a psychological evaluation and completing any recommendations, (4) undergoing counseling to deal with her unresolved family issues, (5) participating in parenting classes, and (6) participating in a drug assessment and following all recommendations of the assessment. More than one year later, Fleming had not completed the services, or even started some, other than to consistently visit R.F., leading the Department to believe she was not motivated to have her son returned to her.

Within a few months of R.F.’s birth, Fleming became pregnant with L.C. During this pregnancy, she was beaten up by “two crackheads” while living in a motel and then she lived with a man, Leroy Cook, who physically abused her. In March 2002, eleven months after R.F. was born, Fleming gave birth to L.C. Because of the domestic violence in the home, Fleming’s past drug history and untreated self-destructive behavior, the Department removed L.C.

Just weeks before the September 2002 trial, Fleming completed parenting classes, obtained a job and housing, and underwent a psychological evaluation. Dr. Nichelle Wiggings performed the psychological evaluation. During her interview, Fleming told her she started using drugs at age eleven and had attempted suicide five times. Tests revealed Fleming’s intelligence as borderline and academic functioning average. With respect to emotional functioning, Wiggings said Fleming had feelings of insecurity and inferiority, had serious deficits in social skills, was psychologically immature, but acknowledged recognized Fleming was only eighteen years old. Wiggings described Fleming as “confused, very upset” over the situation with the Department, and said Fleming had demonstrated poor coping skills, poor decision making, and immaturity in her relationships. She tended to use denial a “great deal” and tended to “rationalize her decision making.”

[808]*808Wiggings “highly recommended” that Fleming undergo individual counseling to address her past history of physical and sexual abuse, poor coping skills, poor decision-making, and self-esteem issues. She believed that Fleming’s self-destructive past was a good indication of how she would react in the future if the child abuse issues were not resolved.

The Department contracted with psychotherapist Grace Montani to provide counseling services to Fleming. Montani said Fleming initially had several goals during counseling, one of the most important being to deal with childhood abuse issues. Fleming and Montani were to meet weekly, and Montani believed it would take at least a year to make any realistic headway. After her fifth counseling session, Fleming canceled future appointments and left Montani a note saying she was doing well and being responsible. Later that same day, the police were called to a domestic dispute between Fleming and her boyfriend.

Montani testified that child abuse issues were at the core of Fleming’s self-destructive behavior and said it was “not probable” she could resolve those issues on her own. Montani believed Fleming would have difficulty caring for herself, much less two small children, and said her past history of abuse was relevant to her ability to parent her children. According to Monta-ni, Fleming had not had her needs met for many years, which in turn, would make it “very, very difficult” for her to meet the needs of a child. She characterized Fleming’s problems as “severe.” Montani did not believe that Fleming could overcome these issues and parent her children at the same time, even if she were provided services to help her.

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Bluebook (online)
115 S.W.3d 804, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-interest-of-rf-texapp-2003.