In the Int. of: H.B., Appeal of: H.B.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 18, 2025
Docket947 WDA 2024
StatusUnpublished

This text of In the Int. of: H.B., Appeal of: H.B. (In the Int. of: H.B., Appeal of: H.B.) 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 the Int. of: H.B., Appeal of: H.B., (Pa. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

J-S03003-25

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

IN THE INTEREST OF: H.B., A : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF MINOR : PENNSYLVANIA : : APPEAL OF: H.B., MOTHER : : : : : No. 947 WDA 2024

Appeal from the Order Entered July 22, 2024 In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County Orphans' Court at No(s): CP-02-AP-0000021-2024

BEFORE: KUNSELMAN, J., SULLIVAN, J., and BECK, J.

MEMORANDUM BY KUNSELMAN, J.: FILED: March 18, 2025

H.B. (Mother) appeals from the order granting the petition filed by the

Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth and Families (the Agency) which

terminated her rights to her now six-year-old son, H.B. (the Child), pursuant

to the Adoption Act. See 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 2511(a)(2), (a)(8), (b). After review,

we affirm.1

In its Appellate Rule 1925(a) opinion, the orphans’ court set forth the

following factual history:2 ____________________________________________

1 The court also involuntarily terminated the rights of A.W. (Father), who did

not appeal.

2 We note that the certified record on appeal does not include the exhibits that

were admitted into evidence at the termination hearing. Mother relies on the testimony from the termination hearing to support her arguments. Thus, our appellate review was not impeded by not having the exhibits in the certified record. However, we also note with displeasure that the certified record (Footnote Continued Next Page) J-S03003-25

The [Agency] first became aware of Mother and [the] Child at the end of February 2022. On March 1, 2022, [the Agency] received a report raising concerns regarding Mother’s mental health status as well as that [the] Child was exhibiting extremely challenging behaviors. The [Agency] caseworker responded to Children’s Hospital and observed Mother to have disorganized thoughts, rapid speech, and a “very difficult time maintaining her emotional stability when interacting with [the] [C]hild.” Mother’s conduct that day “included statements that she might hurt herself or [the] Child, that she has a lot of enemies and needed to go ‘incognito,’ and that [the] Child was ‘possessed.[’]” The caseworker also observed [the] Child’s behavior which included[] hitting, kicking, spitting, punching, and head- butting. After speaking with Mother and observing her demeanor as well as [the] Child’s behavior, [the Agency] obtained an Emergency Custody Authorization. Upon removal, [the] Child was placed in the foster home of Foster Mother.[FN 10]

FN 10 [The] Child was initially placed with Foster Mother for [a short time] before being placed in kinship care. [The] Child remained in the kinship placement for only a short time before needing to be removed due to difficulty in managing his behaviors. It was then determined that [the] Child would benefit from being placed in a therapeutic foster home. [The Agency] was able to locate an appropriate therapeutic placement. However, this only lasted for a few weeks, again due to difficulties with [the] Child’s behavior. Around that time, [Foster Mother] expressed her desire to the caseworker to become therapeutically certified and have [the] Child returned to her care. [The Agency] referred [Foster Mother] to Cayuga Centers for certification and by November of 2022, [the] Child ____________________________________________

initially did not include the hearing transcript. This Court expended its own resources to procure the hearing transcript to enable appellate review. We remind Mother and her counsel that it is ultimately the appellant’s responsibility to ensure that the record is complete on appeal. See Pa.R.A.P. 1921, Note.

-2- J-S03003-25

was returned to her care where he has since remained.

[The] Child was adjudicated dependent on May 4, 2022, and the [c]ourt determined that placement remained necessary. The [c]ourt found the conditions requiring placement included Mother’s need to participate in mental health treatment and demonstrate mental health stability, and her need to develop parenting skills necessary to manage [the] Child’s behavior and to demonstrate use of those skills.

Since removal, [the] Child has not returned to Mother’s care. Following a permanency review hearing on August 30, 2023, the [c]ourt suspended Mother’s visits with [the] Child, concluding that visitation in any setting posed a grave threat to [the] Child due to Mother’s mental health instability. Mother did not appeal this decision and has not visited [the] Child since May 5, 2023.

[The Agency] filed its petition to terminate Mother’s parental rights on March 8, 2024, and a hearing was held on July 2, 2024. . . .[3]

The evidence at the hearing established Mother’s ongoing incapacity and her inability to address the needs identified in the [c]ourt’s orders or to remedy the conditions which brought [the] Child into care. Between [the] Child’s adjudication and the time of filing of the termination petition, Mother made some initial progress in remedying both conditions that necessitated [the] Child’s placement. Unfortunately, Mother was unable to maintain her mental health stability, and consequently, her parenting capacity deteriorated.

During the first year of [the] Child’s placement, Mother participated in various services intended to assist her in ____________________________________________

3 We note that Mother did not attend the hearing. Mother’s counsel indicated that Mother intended to be present. The orphans’ court attempted to reach Mother via phone. Although Mother was not present, her counsel represented her throughout the hearing. On appeal, Mother has not raised any due process concerns regarding her absence.

-3- J-S03003-25

working toward reunification. At the time [the] Child came into care, Mother was receiving mental health therapy and medication management at Metro Community Health before transitioning these services to Mercy Behavioral Health in the fall of 2022. Mother disclosed a diagnosis of intermittent explosive disorder, and though she would not sign releases of information to disclose her prescribed medication, Mother informed the caseworker that it helped to keep her calm.

Following [the] Child’s removal, Mother consistently attended visits with [the] Child, though they were generally challenging and chaotic with both Mother and [the] Child becoming upset. To assist with visitation, the [Agency] caseworker referred Mother and [the] Child to Cayuga Centers for therapeutic visitation in the fall of 2022. Mother initially attended the visits and by February 2023 she seemed to be doing well. The [Agency] caseworker observed Mother to demonstrate better reasoning skills and an increased ability to remain calm. By March, however, Mother had discontinued her mental health medication and, over the next few months, began to display paranoia, reporting that she believed the employees of Cayuga were possessed by demons.

As Mother’s mental health continued to decline in the spring of 2023, she eventually stopped attending visits with [the] Child and periodically left the Pittsburgh area to travel to Atlanta, Georgia and Washington, D.C. During a permanency review hearing in August of 2023, the [c]ourt heard testimony regarding the extreme difficulty [the] Child experienced in adjusting to Mother’s failure to visit. [The] Child is reportedly very schedule-oriented[,] and, for approximately six weeks, [the] Child regressed in his behavior while adjusting to his new routine. Based on this testimony, the [c]ourt determined that visitation under the current circumstances posed a grave threat to [the] Child and accordingly suspended Mother’s visits. The [c]ourt ordered that Mother’s visits could resume once she reengaged in mental health treatment.

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