In Re WDW

173 S.W.3d 607, 2005 WL 2303381
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 22, 2005
Docket05-04-01254-CV
StatusPublished

This text of 173 S.W.3d 607 (In Re WDW) 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 WDW, 173 S.W.3d 607, 2005 WL 2303381 (Tex. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

173 S.W.3d 607 (2005)

In the Interest of W.D.W., a Child.

No. 05-04-01254-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Dallas.

September 22, 2005.

*608 Avo S. Butler, Law Office of Avo Stevens Butler, Sherman, for ad litem.

John Hunter Smith, Nall, Pelley & Wynne, L.L.P, Sherman, R.J. Hagood, Denison, for Appellants.

Karla R. Baugh, Assistant County Attorney, Stephen Love, Grayson County Attorney's Officer, Sherman, for Appellee.

Before Justices FITZGERALD, LANG-MIERS, and MAZZANT.

OPINION

Opinion by Justice LANG-MIERS.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (the Department) filed *609 an action to terminate the parent-child relationship between the parents, G____ W____ (Mother) and B____ W____ (Father), and the minor child, W.D.W., under the procedures provided in Texas Family Code Chapter 161. The jury found the parents' rights should be terminated, and the trial court rendered judgment according to the verdict. On appeal, both parents challenge the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence and the admission of the testimony of the Department's expert. We affirm.

LEGAL AND FACTUAL SUFFICIENCY

A trial court may terminate the parent-child relationship if the fact finder finds by clear and convincing evidence (1) a parent committed one or more of the enumerated statutory acts or omissions, and (2) termination is in the best interest of the child. TEX. FAM.CODE ANN. § 161.001 (Vernon 2002). Due process requires that each finding be based on clear and convincing evidence. Id. § 161.206(a). Clear and convincing evidence is "the measure or degree of proof that will produce in the mind of the trier of fact a firm belief or conviction as to the truth of the allegations sought to be established." Id. § 101.007. This level of certainty is necessary to preserve the fundamental fairness in government-initiated proceedings that threaten to end a natural parent's desire for and right to custody, care, and management of his or her children. In re S.P., 168 S.W.3d 197, 202 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2005, no pet. h.).

In reviewing the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support a termination finding, we look at all of the evidence "in the light most favorable to the finding to determine whether a reasonable trier of fact could have formed a firm belief or conviction that its finding was true." In re J.F.C., 96 S.W.3d 256, 266 (Tex.2002). In doing so, we presume the fact finder "resolved disputed facts in favor of its finding if a reasonable factfinder could do so." Id. As a corollary to this, we "disregard all evidence that a reasonable factfinder could have disbelieved or found to have been incredible." Id. After conducting this review, if we determine "no reasonable factfinder could form a firm belief or conviction that the matter that must be proven is true, [we] must conclude that the evidence is legally insufficient." Id.

In reviewing the factual sufficiency of the evidence, we look at all of the evidence and "give due consideration to evidence that the factfinder could reasonably have found to be clear and convincing." Id. We "consider whether disputed evidence is such that a reasonable factfinder could not have resolved that disputed evidence in favor of its finding." Id. After such a review, if we conclude the disputed evidence that the fact finder "could not have credited in favor of the finding is so significant that a factfinder could not reasonably have formed a firm belief or conviction, then the evidence is factually insufficient." Id.

Mother and Father's Acts or Omissions

The Department sought to terminate the parental rights of Mother and Father because they (1) knowingly placed or knowingly allowed the child to remain in conditions or surroundings which endangered the child's physical or emotional well-being, or (2) engaged in conduct or knowingly placed the child with persons who engaged in conduct which endangered the child's physical or emotional well-being. See TEX. FAM.CODE ANN. § 161.001(1)(D) & (E).

Father argues no rational trier of fact could have found by clear and convincing evidence that he engaged in any of the allegations asserted in the Department's *610 petition. Mother did not file a separate brief but rather adopted Father's brief.

The evidence showed that Mother has four children, two of whom she had when she was very young. She gave those two older children to her grandmother to raise. During the investigation of this case, her grandmother told the Department that Mother was not feeding the children before grandmother took over their care. Although Mother testified she talks with these children regularly, the record contained no evidence she made any effort to see the children on a regular basis.

Mother left home as a teenager, without the children, and traveled with friends who drove commercial tractor trailers on long-haul trips. On one of these trips, she met Father, a truck driver. They were married, Mother gave birth to J.W. in October 1993, and the family moved to Oklahoma. W.D.W. was born in Oklahoma in February 1999. Although the evidence conflicted regarding the exact time, at some point after W.D.W. was born, J.W. was removed from the home based on allegations of physical abuse by Mother and Father and sexual abuse by Father's brother, S____ W____ (the uncle). Prior to J.W.'s removal, the parents were informed of the allegations that the uncle abused J.W., but they continued to allow the uncle to visit.

Mother completed parenting classes in an effort to regain custody of J.W., but the record contained no evidence that Mother or Father complied with any other conditions required by Oklahoma to reunite the family. In the meantime, Mother and Father moved back to Texas with W.D.W. where they lived with Father's family, including the uncle, S____ W____, and Father's brother, M____ W____, and sister-in-law. In January 2004, a jury in Oklahoma terminated Mother and Father's parental rights to J.W.

Mother and Father frequently took W.D.W. on their long-haul trips. W.D.W.'s baby seat was "bungie strapped" to the back seat and W.D.W. often wiggled out of his seat and crawled up to the front. Mother admitted that she and Father used methamphetamine intravenously for the past twelve years, even while driving with W.D.W. And although she testified she never let W.D.W. out of her sight, Mother later admitted she left W.D.W. with M____ W____ and his wife, who were also drug users and lived with the uncle, and the evidence showed that W.D.W. was left in the uncle's care at least once.

During their thirteen years of marriage, Father frequently assaulted Mother in front of W.D.W., sometimes hitting her with his fist and other times hitting her with his open hand. He also "chocked," kicked and dragged her. Father was arrested three times since W.D.W. was born, and served one year of probation for family violence. He used to smoke marijuana and injected methamphetamine off and on since he was eighteen. Mother was convicted of food stamp fraud, but denied committing the crime. After failing to comply with the conditions of her probation, Mother admitted to a methamphetamine addiction and was sentenced to a substance abuse felony punishment facility, where she was still incarcerated during the trial of this case.

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Bluebook (online)
173 S.W.3d 607, 2005 WL 2303381, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-wdw-texapp-2005.