In the Interest of A.B.

19 A.3d 1084, 2011 Pa. Super. 75, 2011 Pa. Super. LEXIS 144
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 11, 2011
StatusPublished
Cited by148 cases

This text of 19 A.3d 1084 (In the Interest of A.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 Interest of A.B., 19 A.3d 1084, 2011 Pa. Super. 75, 2011 Pa. Super. LEXIS 144 (Pa. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION BY

BOWES, J.:

The guardian ad litem appointed to represent B.B., A.B., and M.B. in the underlying dependency proceedings appeals from the juvenile court’s orders denying Lancaster County Children and Youth Social Service Agency’s (“CYS”) request to change the children’s permanency goals from reunification to adoption.1 We affirm.

B.B., A.B., and M.B., three girls, were born of KB.’s (“Mother”) relationships with three separate men. B.B.’s father was identified as J.R.; however, A.B.’s and M.B.’s fathers are unknown. None of the men has had any significant contact with their respective daughters. At the time of the June 17, 2010 permanency review hearing, the girls were ages nine, seven, and five, respectively.

CYS first became involved with Mother during her adolescence due to allegations that her father (“Maternal Grandfather”) abused her sexually. An indicated sexual abuse report identified Maternal Grandfather as perpetrating the sexual abuse between 1997 and 1999. Maternal Grandfather is a registered sex offender under Pennsylvania’s version of Megan’s Law with a conviction of indecent aggravated assault for abuses committed against a victim other than Mother.

CYS was reacquainted with Mother during 2001, based upon reports that she was unable to care for her then-newborn daughter, B.B., and because she resided in squalor. During the subsequent years, CYS received additional reports that Mother was unable to satisfy her growing family’s needs. Specifically, CYS was concerned about the family’s deplorable and cramped living conditions, the children’s hygiene, and the family’s ongoing association with Maternal Grandfather, including permitting unsupervised contact with the three children while Maternal Grandfather resided with the family.

During 2007, CYS discovered that Mother had been evicted from her apartment and the family was homeless. In addition, [1086]*1086CYS learned that A.B. had significant mental health issues that Mother did not address. In the same year, Mother indicated that she intended to maintain a relationship with Maternal Grandfather, who was then non-compliant with his mandated sexual offender treatment, and she recanted her prior allegations of his sexual abuse. Mother also refused to abide by a CYS safety contract that identified Maternal Grandfather as a threat to the children’s safety and required Mother to avoid contact with him. A subsequent investigation by Child Protective Services (“CPS”) resulted in an indicated report of sexual abuse against Mother because she permitted Maternal Grandfather, a known sexual abuser, to reside with the children during spring 2008. CPS determined that Mother’s actions created an “imminent risk of ... sexual abuse or sexual exploitation” under the Child Protective Services Law, 23 Pa.C.S. § 6303(a) and (b). However, since CPS mailed the report to an incorrect address, Mother did not receive the determination and was unable to appeal it.

As CYS believed that Mother continued to permit Maternal Grandfather to have unsupervised contact with her daughters and failed to address the ongoing concerns with the children’s hygiene and mental health, the juvenile court adjudicated B.B., A.B., and M.B. dependent on August 13, 2008. CYS was awarded temporary legal custody of the three children. The agency placed B.B. and M.B. together with a foster care family that is a permanent placement resource. A.B. was placed in a specialized foster home with a foster parent who was trained to address her emotional and behavioral issues. That foster home also is a permanent placement option. The initial permanency goal of all three children was reunification with a concurrent goal of adoption. Mother was permitted biweekly hour-long, supervised visitation.

The goals that CYS developed for Mother and implemented in the family service plan (“FSP”) and the girls’ respective permanency plans included: (1) improve mental health function; (2) adopt and utilize good parenting skills; (3) achieve and maintain financial stability; (4) obtain and maintain adequate housing; (5) demonstrate an ongoing commitment to her daughters; and (6) develop an understanding of sexual victimization in order to address her past victimization and to protect her daughters from abuse. The juvenile court assessed Mother’s compliance with the goals and objectives over the course of the dependency proceedings and characterized her compliance with the plan as moderate and her commitment to her daughters as commendable. Trial Court Opinion, 10/5/10, at 14-15.

The juvenile court observed that Mother attended every supervised visitation with her daughters, and her behavior during the visitation was appropriate. Id. at 5, 11. She also was attentive to the children’s medical schedule, missing medical appointments only when she had a valid reason. Id. at 12. As it relates to the parenting component, Mother completed the required parent training program and made progress toward successfully implementing the knowledge that she had attained. Id. Similarly, the juvenile court found that Mother participated in the required counseling programs and demonstrated a willingness to broach sensitive subjects when it affected her daughters’ safety. Id. at 12.

In addition, Mother completed her goals for income and housing. Id. at 12. Mother is employed fulltime, and the combined income of Mother and her live-in fiancé, M.C., with whom she shares a child unrelated to these matters, is sufficient to satisfy the family’s living expenses without out[1087]*1087side assistance. Id. at 12-13. Mother and M.C. rent a three-bedroom home that is adequate for the children. Id. at 12. CYS twice visited the home and characterized the condition of the residence as both “really nice” and “acceptable [but] clutter[ed]”. Id. at 10-11.

In relation to Mother’s mental health and her ability to address her sexual victimization, the trial court found that Mother completed the mental health evaluation and is continuing with the required counseling. Id. at 6-7,15. Indeed, Mother not only completed a psychological evaluation with Yury Yaroslavsky, M.D., during July 2008, and participated in a non-offending parent evaluation administered by Triad Treatment Specialists (“Triad”) during October 2008, she also agreed to submit to a second mental health evaluation by Jonathan M. Gransee, Ph.D., after the guardian ad litem objected that Dr. Yaroslavsky made his findings without the benefit of the Triad report or the children’s psycho-sexual evaluation. Id. at 7. Dr. Gransee suggested that Mother might suffer from a learning disability, but he was unable to diagnose a specific mental health condition that would have a negative affect on Mother’s ability to parent and protect her daughters. Id. Accordingly, he recommended that Mother continue her outpatient counseling. In sum, the trial court determined that Mother completed the training and evaluation portions of goals and attained stable income and housing. Id. at 15. The court concluded that Mother was committed to her daughters and needed only to continue to participate in her mental health counseling, implement her parental training, and maintain stable income and housing. Id.

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Bluebook (online)
19 A.3d 1084, 2011 Pa. Super. 75, 2011 Pa. Super. LEXIS 144, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-ab-pasuperct-2011.