In the Interest of A.A.R. v. B.R.

71 S.W.3d 626, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 278, 2002 WL 226637
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 15, 2002
DocketNo. WD 59986
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 71 S.W.3d 626 (In the Interest of A.A.R. v. B.R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri 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 the Interest of A.A.R. v. B.R., 71 S.W.3d 626, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 278, 2002 WL 226637 (Mo. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

PATRICIA BRECKENRIDGE, Judge.

B.R. (Mother) appeals the termination of her parental rights to her daughter, A.A.R. On appeal, Mother claims that the Juvenile Division of the Circuit Court of Grundy County1 lacked subject matter jurisdiction to terminate her parental rights because the juvenile court did not properly assume jurisdiction over this case since the juvenile officer’s original neglect petition was insufficient to vest the juvenile court with jurisdiction. Mother further claims that the juvenile court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to terminate her parental rights because the juvenile court’s judgment terminating her parental rights failed to state specific findings of jurisdiction. This court finds that the pleading requirements of Rule 114.01 are not jurisdictional; the neglect petition stated facts sufficient to vest the juvenile court with subject matter jurisdiction over A.A.R.; and the record indicates that jurisdiction of the termination proceeding was properly taken. Therefore, the judgment terminating Mother’s parental rights is affirmed.

A.A.R. was born on February 26, 1998. Four days later, on March 2, 1998, the juvenile officer filed a petition asserting that Mother and AAR.’s father, D.R.,2 had neglected or refused to provide proper support, education, medical, surgical, or other care necessary for her well-being. The juvenile officer listed nine specific allegations to support this assertion. The relevant portion of the petition reads:

4. The juvenile, A.A.R., is in the custody of the Grundy Co. Juvenile Court (temporary custody of DFS) ... and is in need of care and treatment because:
In accordance with Section 211.081.1(l)(a) RSMo, the parents, or other persons legally responsible for the care and support of the child neglect or refuse to provide proper support, education which is required by law, medical, surgical, or other care necessary for her well-being, to-wit:
a) Child suffers from Intra-uterine growth retardation.
b) The natural mother inappropriately handled said child while breast feeding. She was heard to say to the child, “Shut up, why can’t you do what you are supposed to do!”
[628]*628c) The natural mother has no parenting skills or experience and nursing staff have been unseuceessful [sic] in instructing her in the care and feeding of said child.
d) The natural mother has attempted suicide on at least two occasions and has been institutionalized on several occasions for the treatment of mental illness.
e) The natural mother has refused to take medication prescribed for the treatment of her mental illness.
f) The child has extraordinary nutritional needs that require a high of care [sic],
g) Said child’s natural father is a known sexual offender. An ex-parte order of protection was issued on behalf of the natural mother.
h) The natural mother was observed by the nursing staff of Wright Memorial Hospital to shake the child in such a manner as to place her in danger of “shaken baby syndrome.”
i) By her own admission, the natural mother’s home at Leisure Lake is inappropriate for said child and poses a health risk to said child.

On the same day the neglect petition was filed, the juvenile court issued an “Order of Temporary Detention” and took custody of A.A.R., placing her in foster care.

On April 17, 1998, the court held a hearing on the juvenile officer’s neglect petition. Mother and her attorney attended the hearing. On the date of the hearing, the juvenile court, in its docket entry, found that Mother “admits the allegations of the petition with the exception of 4 b, c, d, e and h and consents to jurisdiction.” On April 22, 1998, the juvenile court entered a written judgment in which it took jurisdiction over A.A.R. As its basis for taking jurisdiction over A.A.R., the juvenile court stated:

The natural mother admits allegations of the petition 4(a), 4(f), 4(g) and 4(i). Allegations 4(b), 4(c), 4(d), 4(e), and 4(h) are abandoned by the State. The natural father denies allegations of the petition. Testimony is heard and the Court finds that allegation 4(g) of the petition is true and that the natural father is a known sexual offender, and for reasons thereof, and it appearing to be in the best interest of said child, the Petition is sustained as to the findings set forth above and jurisdiction exercised. Dispo-sitional hearing is set for July 24, 1998, at 10:30 a.m. Said child’s temporary custody remains with the Division of Family Services and the present placement continued.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the Petition be and it is hereby sustained as enumerated in the findings, and jurisdiction exercised.

Thus, the juvenile court took jurisdiction over A.A.R. after finding to be true the juvenile officer’s allegations that A.A.R. suffers from intra-uterine growth retardation; A.A.R. has extraordinary nutritional needs that require a high degree of care; A.A.R.’s father is a known sexual offender and an ex parte order of protection against him was issued on behalf of Mother; and, by Mother’s admission, her home at Leisure Lake is inappropriate for A.A.R. and poses a health risk to A.A.R.

On August 16, 1999, sixteen months after the court took jurisdiction over A.A.R., the juvenile officer filed a petition to terminate Mother’s parental rights to A.A.R. In the petition, the juvenile officer alleged that termination was appropriate under §§ 211.447.2(1) and 211.447.4(3)(b), (c), RSMo 2000.3 Specifically, regarding [629]*629§ 211.447.2(1), the juvenile officer alleged that A.A.R. had been in foster care for at least fifteen of the most recent twenty-two months. With regard to § 211.447.4(3)(b), (c), the juvenile officer alleged that A.A.R. had been under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court for a period of one year, and the conditions which led to the assumption of jurisdiction still persist, or conditions of a potentially harmful nature continue to exist, and there is little likelihood that those conditions will be remedied at an early date so that A.A.R. can be returned to Mother in the near future, or the continuation of the parent-child relationship greatly diminishes AAR.’s prospects for early integration into a stable and permanent home. The specific conditions cited by the juvenile officer were that Mother had been diagnosed with several psychological and personality disorders, including “Depression, Recurrent, Moderate, Sexual abuse of child, Victim, and Factitious Disorder, Predominantly physical signs and symptoms and personality disorders.” The juvenile officer further alleged that there was no reasonable likelihood that Mother’s condition could be reversed, and her condition rendered her unable to knowingly provide A.A.R. with the necessary care, custody and control.

A hearing was held on the petition to terminate Mother’s parental rights in February 2000. Following the hearing, the juvenile court entered its judgment terminating Mother’s parental rights to A.A.R. on both of the grounds asserted in the juvenile officer’s petition.

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Bluebook (online)
71 S.W.3d 626, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 278, 2002 WL 226637, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-aar-v-br-moctapp-2002.