In re the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of L.S., C.H., and A.H. (Minor Children), and L.H. (Mother) v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)

CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 30, 2018
Docket90A05-1712-JT-2954
StatusPublished

This text of In re the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of L.S., C.H., and A.H. (Minor Children), and L.H. (Mother) v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.) (In re the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of L.S., C.H., and A.H. (Minor Children), and L.H. (Mother) v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)) 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 the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of L.S., C.H., and A.H. (Minor Children), and L.H. (Mother) v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.), (Ind. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION FILED Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), May 30 2018, 7:06 am this Memorandum Decision shall not be regarded as precedent or cited before any CLERK Indiana Supreme Court court except for the purpose of establishing Court of Appeals and Tax Court

the defense of res judicata, collateral estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Justin R. Wall Curtis T. Hill, Jr. Wall Legal Services Attorney General of Indiana Huntington, Indiana Katherine A. Cornelius Robert J. Henke Deputy Attorneys General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

In re the Termination of the May 30, 2018 Parent-Child Relationship of Court of Appeals Case No. L.S., C.H., and A.H. (Minor 90A05-1712-JT-2954 Children), and L.H. (Mother),1 Appeal from the Wells Circuit Appellant-Respondent, Court The Honorable Kenton W. v. Kiracofe, Judge

Indiana Department of Child Trial Court Cause Nos. 90C01-1607-JT-10 Services, 90C01-1607-JT-11 Appellee-Petitioner. 90C01-1607-JT-12

1 L.A.H. (“Father”) does not appeal the termination of his parental rights. However, pursuant to Indiana Appellate Rule 17(A), a party of record in the trial court shall be a party on appeal.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 90A05-1712-JT-2954 | May 30, 2018 Page 1 of 17 Mathias, Judge.

[1] L.H. (“Mother”) appeals the order of the Wells Circuit Court terminating her

rights to her minor children L.S., A.H., and C.H. (collectively “the Children”).

On appeal, Mother contends that the Indiana Department of Child Services

(“DCS”) presented insufficient evidence to support the trial court’s decision to

terminate her parental rights.

[2] We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History [3] Mother and L.A.H. (“Father”) met in Dubois County, Indiana and were

married in February 2009. At the time, they had one daughter, L.S., who was

born in June 2006. Mother then had two boys with Father: A.H., who was born

in January 2011, and C.H., who was born in May 2012. Mother and Father

moved to Wells County, Indiana sometime in 2013 because Father’s family is

located there.

[4] In August 2013, Father was charged with and pleaded guilty to Class D felony

domestic battery against Mother, and he was ordered to serve six months

executed in the Department of Correction. On January 29, 2014, while Father

was incarcerated, DCS received a report that Children were living with Mother

in a mobile home without heat. The next day, DCS case manager Angie

Vachon (“Vachon”) made an unannounced visit to the trailer and found that:

(1) the living room was the only room in the mobile home with heat, the source

of which was two electric heaters; (2) there was no running water; (3) trash and

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 90A05-1712-JT-2954 | May 30, 2018 Page 2 of 17 clothing were strewn everywhere; and (4) the Children were improperly clothed

for the cold weather. The Children were removed that evening and placed in a

foster home.

[5] On February 3, 2014, the trial court held an initial hearing in which the court

found that further detention in foster care was necessary to protect the Children.

Mother admitted that the Children were children in need of services (“CHINS”)

on May 1, and the court issued a dispositional decree with respect to each child.

As part of the decrees, the Children would remain in foster placement, and

DCS would maintain contact with both parents, foster placements, and the

service providers. Mother was also ordered to successfully complete supervised

visitation, home-based services, random drug screens, home-based case

management, and home-based therapy.

A. Mother’s Actions after the Dispositional Decree

[6] Later that same month, after the Children were adjudicated CHINS, Mother

moved back to Dubois County to care for her sick father. Mother wanted to try

and have the Children transferred closer to Dubois County “which would be

easier for [Mother] to get everything back on track with [Children].” Tr. Vol. 2,

p. 177. While in Dubois County, Mother had monthly visitations with the

Children for two hours at a time in Wells County, since services remained in

place there because Mother indicated she was planning to return. However, in

November 2014, Mother pleaded guilty to Class A misdemeanor driving while

suspended in Dubois County, and she was ordered to serve her sentence on

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 90A05-1712-JT-2954 | May 30, 2018 Page 3 of 17 work release there. When Mother was released from work release three months

later, in February 2015, she moved back to Wells County.

[7] In Wells County, Mother found a job as a waitress, and she stayed first in a

hotel and then with a friend. She took part in weekly supervised visits with the

Children, but a home-visit never took place because DCS was unable to contact

the woman Mother was staying with. Four months later, in June 2015, Mother

again moved to Dubois County because she could not find a place to live on her

own with the money she was earning at the restaurant in Wells County. Her

plan when she moved was to “get a place, get a job, and try and get services

done there since [Mother had] been having issues getting services.” Id. at 179.

In Dubois County, Mother contacted Southern Hills Counseling, and they

provided her with services, including drug screens, a clinical assessment, and

strategies for parenting skills. However, no one from Southern Hills Counseling

ever observed Mother interact with Children or attended a supervised visitation.

[8] Terri Miller (“Miller”), a family preservation case manager with Family

Centered Services in Wells County, provided the supervised visitation and case

management services for Mother and the Children from July 2014 to July 2015.

In her testimony at the December 14, 2016 fact-finding hearing, Miller

explained that Mother was consistent with her two-hour visits with Children

when she was in Wells County. But when she was in Dubois County, visits

diminished to only once a month because Wells County and Dubois County

are roughly four hours apart, and because Mother lacked consistent

transportation since she did not have a license. Miller testified that when

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 90A05-1712-JT-2954 | May 30, 2018 Page 4 of 17 Mother was in Dubois County, Children were less cooperative and they “did

better with [Mother] when they saw her on a more regular basis.” Id. at 91.

[9] Naomi Rainwater (“Rainwater”), a family coach for SCAN, 2 took over the

responsibility of Mother’s supervised visits and case management in September

2015. At the December 15, 2016 fact-finding hearing, she explained that the

consistency of Mother’s two-hour visits fluctuated due to her being so far away.

Rainwater also explained that she reduced the duration of Mother’s visits with

the Children down to one hour after the first visit “because of the children’s

behavior and how chaotic the visit[] became.” Id. at 141. Mother’s boyfriend at

the time, C.S., began attending the visits in November 2015, and he provided

Mother with transportation. From the time Mother’s work-release ended in

Dubois County in February 2015, she could have had her driver’s license

reinstated if she paid a fee of approximately $700, but she had not done so at

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In re the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of L.S., C.H., and A.H. (Minor Children), and L.H. (Mother) v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-termination-of-the-parent-child-relationship-of-ls-ch-and-indctapp-2018.