In re the Parental Rights to: P.G.

Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided March 7, 2019·No. 35644-2·Unpublished

Opinion

FILED

MARCH 7, 2019

In the Office of the Clerk of Court WA State Court of Appeals, Division III

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION THREE

In the Matter of the Parental Rights to )

) No. 35644-2-III P.G. )

)

) UNPUBLISHED OPINION )

SIDDOWAY, J. — After a 22-month dependency, the Grant County Superior Court entered an order terminating the appellant father’s parental rights to P.G. The father appeals the order, arguing that the record does not support the trial court’s findings that (1) the Department of Social and Health Services (Department) provided him with all necessary services to correct his parental deficiencies, (2) there was little likelihood that conditions would be remedied so that P.G. could be returned to him in the near future, and (3) termination of his parental rights was in P.G.’s best interest. Because substantial evidence supports the findings, the order terminating the father’s parental rights is affirmed.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND The appellant’s daughter, P.G., was born on February 20, 2014. In July 2015, the Department began an investigation after receiving information from an Oregon agency that 17-month-old P.G. and her mother had suffered domestic violence at the hands of

In re Parental Rights to P.G.

P.G.’s father. P.G.’s mother had fled with her to Oregon but later returned and renewed her relationship with the father.

On August 5, 2015, the Department held a family team decision making meeting with P.G. and her parents at which both parents agreed to engage in services to address the dysfunction they were experiencing. The parents quickly fell out of communication with the Department, however, and in the next several weeks it was determined through welfare checks and Department contacts that domestic violence and substance abuse was continuing. By September 1, 2015, both parents had told Department employees that they no longer wished to participate in services.

On September 2, 2015, the Department filed a dependency petition. An agreed order of dependency and disposition order was entered on November 3, 2015, and P.G. was removed from her parents’ care at that time. Services ordered for the father in the disposition order were:

 A drug and alcohol evaluation, treatment, and urinalysis (UA),  Parenting education and assessment,  Domestic violence (DV) and anger management assessment and treatment,  Parent bonding assessment, and  Releases for treater information.

See Sealed Ex. P4 at 7. The preprinted disposition order included “psychological evaluation” as an additional service that could be ordered, but it was not marked as a service ordered for the father. Id.

In re Parental Rights to P.G.

In January 2016, the first dependency review hearing was held. The practice for handling dependency review and permanency plan hearings in Grant County was for the participants in a given case (the lawyers, the Department social worker, the guardian ad litem and the parents, if present) to have an unrecorded “round table” status discussion when the case was called. Report of Proceedings (RP) (Reference Hearing (RH))1 at 28-29. A court order reflecting the status would then be signed by the round table participants. It would later be presented to the court for entry.

At the January 2016 review hearing, the finding was made that the Department had made reasonable efforts to provide services to the parents and the father had not complied with any of the services ordered. In addition to requiring compliance with prior services, mental health assessments and psychological evaluations were added as services ordered for both parents.

On May 5, 2016, the parents completed a parent-child assessment with Linda Wirtz, a licensed mental health counselor. For three hours, in a therapy room equipped with toys and games, Ms. Wirtz observed the parents interact with P.G. Ms. Wirtz characterized P.G. as “definitely present[ing] with an attachment disorder to both parents” and an “anxious insecure attachment” to her father. RP at 37. She attributed

1 Two verbatim reports of proceeding are a part of our record. We refer to the report of the September 2017 termination trial simply as “RP” and refer to the report of a reference hearing taking place in November 2018 as “RP (RH).”

In re Parental Rights to P.G.

P.G.’s distrust of her parents to “their long history of substance abuse and domestic violence and being emotionally unavailable to her.” Id. She observed that P.G. appeared to be more comfortable with her father than with her mother.

Ms. Wirtz concluded that P.G. was at risk in the parents’ care and that it would take a lot of work for the parents to meet her needs. She later explained at the termination trial:

Children with attachment disorders are really, really difficult to raise. Even [for] skilled parents who have [an] understanding of the children’s needs and a lot of patience and a dedication to the child, it is extremely challenging because these children—the cycle of not trusting adults and having to be in charge to feel safe is something that’s not overcome easily. It takes years for that child to actually believe that there’s an adult that will meet their needs and take care of them.

RP at 44.

Based on the May 5 assessment, Ms. Wirtz recommended that the father receive a complete substance abuse evaluation and treatment, domestic violence evaluation and treatment, family therapy, and a mental health assessment. She also recommended individual counseling for both parents “based on significant mental health concerns.” Sealed Ex. P10, at 6. She did not recommend a psychological evaluation.

On June 14, 2016, a permanency planning hearing was held. Neither of P.G.’s parents attended. Once again, the father was found not to be in compliance with most of the services ordered seven months earlier. He was found to be in partial compliance with drug evaluation and treatment, and the parenting education and assessment. The court

In re Parental Rights to P.G.

continued to order the same services, including a mental health assessment and a psychological evaluation. The primary permanency plan identified for P.G. at the conclusion of the hearing was return to the home of the parents, with an alternative being adoption.

Following the June permanency planning hearing, social worker Bonnie Gaines was assigned responsibility for P.G.’s case. She re-referred the father to substance abuse, domestic violence, and parenting services. Two substance abuse evaluations were done, both resulting in recommendations that the father receive inpatient treatment. Ms. Gaines also referred the father for mental health treatment based on Ms. Wirtz’s recommendation. He failed to engage in any substance abuse, domestic violence, or mental health services.

In November 2016, the Department petitioned for termination of both parents’

rights.

In December 2016, a second permanency planning review hearing was held and the father was again found to have only partially complied with the parenting assessment and to be out of compliance with the other ordered services. The court kept in place its order for the services earlier identified. The primary permanency plan for P.G. was changed to adoption, with an alternative being her return to her mother.

At around this time—approximately 16 months after the family had come to the Department’s attention and over a year after P.G. had been removed from her parents’

In re Parental Rights to P.G.

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