In re W.H.

25 A.3d 330, 2011 Pa. Super. 119, 2011 Pa. Super. LEXIS 627
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 6, 2011
StatusPublished
Cited by276 cases

This text of 25 A.3d 330 (In re W.H.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re W.H., 25 A.3d 330, 2011 Pa. Super. 119, 2011 Pa. Super. LEXIS 627 (Pa. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION BY

BOWES, J.:

In these consolidated interlocutory appeals, L.B. (“Mother”) challenges two orders the juvenile court entered as part of her son’s ongoing mental health treatment. In the appeal listed at 886 WDA 2010, Mother challenges the May 7, 2010 order permitting the Allegheny County Office of Children Youth and Families (“CYF”) to treat W.H.’s mental health disorder with psychotropic medication. In the appeal listed at 1128 WDA 2010, Mother assails the July 1, 2010 order canceling an appointment that she scheduled for W.H. to begin therapy at Mercy Behavioral Health. Upon review of the certified record, we dismiss the appeal filed at 1128 WDA 2010 as moot, and we deny CYF’s motion to dismiss the appeal filed at 886 WDA 2010 and affirm at that number.

The trial court summarized the underlying facts and procedural history as follows:

L.B. is the mother of W.H. [Mother] and the child have a history with CYF dating back to 2007. The child along with a sibling were found dependent on December 19, 2007 by the Honorable Judge Robert Colville, Jr. and removed from [Mother’s] care on June 18, 2008. [The juvenile] court changed the goal from reunification to adoption on August 19, 2009. On Sep[333]*333tember 22, 2009, [Mother] filed an appeal of [the juvenile] court’s August 19, 2009 Order at 1597 WDA 2009. On October 21, 2009, Guardian Ad Litem (hereafter GAL) filed a Motion to Reduce [Mother’s] visits with W.H. and his sibling due to allegations that [Mother] struck her children at recent visits and during an interactional evaluation with Dr. Rosenblum. Dr. Rosenblum recommended that visits be reduced to monthly. [The juvenile] court issued an Order on October 23, 2009, reducing [Mother’s] visits pending the next review hearing. On November 20, 2009, [the juvenile] court found that [Mother] had minimal compliance with the permanency plan in that she continued to struggle with dual diagnosis issues as well as continued involvement in a relationship, which is characterized by domestic violence. [Mother’s] visitation was to remain monthly for the next two months and thereafter reduced to quarterly pursuant to the goal of adoption and recommendations of Dr. Rosenblum. On November 20, 2009, Dr. Rosenblum’s evaluation reports conducted on 9/23/2009, 9/29/2009 and 10/7/2009, were admitted in to evidence. The [petition to involuntarily terminate Mother’s parental right’s] with regard to this child was filed on 2/17/2010. [Although the orphans’ court granted the petition to terminate Mother’s parental rights, the Superior Court vacated the orphans’ court’s order on procedural grounds and remanded for further proceedings. See In re W.H., 1597 WDA 2009, 6 A.3d 578 (filed July 29, 2010) ].
On April 14, 2010, a Permanency Review Hearing took place before Hearing Officer Hobson. The court again found that [Mother] had made minimal progress with complying with her permanency plan. The children were to remain in their pre-adoptive foster home and [Mother’s] visits were reduced to quarterly.
On April 26, 2010, CYF filed a Motion to Permit Psychotropic Medication for Mental Health Treatment that was heard by [the juvenile] court on May 7, 2010. After a hearing and the presentation of evidence by CYF [the juvenile] court ordered that the psychiatrist at Glade Run Lutheran Services [ (“Glade Run”) ] was granted permission to prescribe medication, for the purpose of W.H.’s mental health treatment. In addition the order also provided that the foster parents and school nurse had permission to administer any and all prescriptions. On May 28, 2010, [Mother’s] legal counsel presented a Motion for A Second Opinion To Prescribe Psychotropic Medication. [The juvenile] court granted [Mother’s] motion and ordered CYF to obtain a second medical opinion as to whether W.H. should be prescribed and administered psychotropic medication with the results forwarded to [Mother] and her counsel.
On June 4, 2010, [Mother’s] legal counsel presented an Emergency Motion For Stay of [the juvenile] court’s May 7, 2010 order to prescribe and administer psychotropic medication for child pending the second medical opinion ordered on May 28, 2010. [Mother’s] Motion For Stay, was denied by [the juvenile] court on June 4, 2010. On June 4, 2010, [Mother] filed a Notice of Appeal from [the] May 7, 2010 order. [That appeal was listed on the Superior Court docket at 886 WDA 2010.]

Trial Court Opinion, 7/6/10, at 1-3 (footnotes omitted). Thereafter, on June 30, 2010, the juvenile court granted CYF’s emergency motion to cancel an appointment that Mother had scheduled for W.H. to begin therapy at Mercy Behavioral Health. The trial court found that the [334]*334appointment was not consistent with its May 28, 2010 order directing CYF to obtain a second medical opinion regarding psychotropic medication. Mother’s appeal from the June 30, 2010 order was listed on our docket at 1128 WDA 2010. This Court consolidated the two appeals sua sponte. Meanwhile, on December 30, 2010, the orphans’ court entered an order terminating Mother’s parental rights to W.H. As of the date of this writing, Mother’s appeal from the order terminating her parental rights is pending before another panel of this Court at 146 WDA 2011.

On November 19, 2010, CYF filed a motion to dismiss the appeal docketed at 886 WDA 2010 since Mother filed her brief one day late and because the brief referred to prior juvenile court matters that did not have a discernable relationship to the issues on appeal. CYF also asserted that the brief cited to a supposed reproduced record that Mother failed either to file with this Court or serve on the agency. However, since neither the briefs untimeliness nor the references therein to extraneous juvenile court proceedings or the non-existent reproduced record affected our ability to conduct meaningful appellate review, we decline to dismiss the appeal on either of those bases. Similarly, to the extent that CYF complains that Mother failed to file a reproduced record in this case, we observe that Mother, who is proceeding in forma pauperis (“IFP”), was not required to reproduce the record. See Pa.R.A.P. 2151(b). Accordingly, for all of the reasons mentioned above, we deny CYF’s motion to dismiss the appeal listed at 886 WDA 2010.

However, before addressing the merits of Mother’s appeals, we observe that Mother’s appeal from the June 30, 2010 order granting CYF’s petition to cancel the appointment she scheduled for a second opinion is moot. “An issue before a court is moot if in ruling upon the issue the court cannot enter an order that has any legal force or effect.” Johnson v. Martofel, 797 A.2d 943, 946 (Pa.Super.2002). Herein, approximately one month after the juvenile court entered the pertinent order, CYF secured a second medical opinion regarding psychotropic medication from Gary Vallano, MD. Hence, regardless of our determination on appellate review, we cannot issue any ruling that would have any legal effect over the court’s decision to cancel the appointment for a second opinion that Mother scheduled at Mercy Behavioral Health. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal listed at 1128 WDA 2010 as moot.1

Next, we confront whether the May 7, 2010 order, permitting the Glade Run psychiatrist to prescribe psychotropic medication to W.H., was appealable pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 341.

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Bluebook (online)
25 A.3d 330, 2011 Pa. Super. 119, 2011 Pa. Super. LEXIS 627, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-wh-pasuperct-2011.