In the Interest of A.P.

184 S.W.3d 410, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 1370, 2006 WL 391316
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 21, 2006
DocketNo. 05-05-00419-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by102 cases

This text of 184 S.W.3d 410 (In the Interest of A.P.) 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 the Interest of A.P., 184 S.W.3d 410, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 1370, 2006 WL 391316 (Tex. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice WRIGHT.

Jennifer P. (mother) appeals the trial court’s judgment terminating her parental rights to A.P. and J.P. In a single issue, mother contends the evidence is factually insufficient to show that termination was in the children’s best interest. We overrule mother’s sole issue and affirm the trial court’s judgment.

Background

Mother, who was twenty-four-years-old at the time of trial, testified that she was involved with Child Protective Services (CPS) as a child because her mother was neglectful, she was sexually abused by her mother’s friend, and she often went to school dirty and bruised. According to mother, she dropped out of school after seventh grade and began using drugs when she was fourteen. She was fifteen when she became pregnant with A.P. She stopped using drugs while she was pregnant, but after A.P. was born, she began smoking marijuana frequently. She started using cocaine when she was twenty-one.

Mother described her relationship with the children’s father1 as “abusive. Controlling, obsessive mentally. Sometimes physically.” When J.P. was about six-months-old, mother ended her relationship with father because she was “tired” and he was “getting into deeper drugs.” About two months after she left father, mother went to Job Corp. A.P. and J.P. stayed with their maternal grandmother and mother saw them on the weekends. She left Job Corp. because she felt she needed [412]*412to be home with her children. Thereafter, she began using cocaine.

According to mother, she has had problems with her mental health from the time she was eleven. She testified that she has been anorexic, suicidal, and has recently been diagnosed as bi-polar. She first attempted to commit suicide when she was eleven or twelve, and when asked about this at trial, she claimed she was not institutionalized at that time. However, her medical records indicate she told both Timberlawn and Green Oaks Hospitals that she was institutionalized for two years when she first attempted suicide. Mother also gave a medical history of attempting suicide “two hundred or more times” but at trial said it was about twenty-five times. She explained that she was “probably lying” and was on drugs at the time she gave the medical histories and she “said a lot of things” that were not true.

CPS became involved with A.P. and J.P. in November 2003 after mother took A.P. to Children’s Hospital “to try to get a rape kit.” Mother did so because A.P.’s behavior, such as running the faucet over her genital area and soiling herself, made mother concerned about sexual abuse. When mother asked A.P. about her behavior, she told mother it was “because [mother] was having too many male companions over” and that mother was not paying attention to her when they were there. A.P. also told mother that “some guy” had touched her vagina. Later, CPS received a second referral for neglect after A.P. and J.P. went to school dirty and had lice.

During the time CPS was working with the family, mother attempted to commit suicide after A.P. told her she was “messing [A.P.] up.” At the time, mother was “doing drugs really hard.” Mother was also taking prescription medication because she was “seeing and hearing things that [she] couldn’t control.” Mother was very upset about what A.P. had told her so she took “a whole bunch of pills” and then “used some cocaine to enhance it.” She woke up some time later at Baylor Hospital. Two or three weeks later, mother cut her arm with “a blade” because she was in “so much pain [she] had to release, and [she] cut [her] arm to release the emotional pain.” A.P. saw the cuts on mother’s arm and made her hold a towel on it.

After talking with her case worker, mother admitted herself to Timberlawn Hospital. She stayed a few days and then asked to be released. However, she continued to hear voices and was still using drugs. A.P. and J.P. were removed from her care a few days later. Mother admitted that at that time, her “life was absolutely out of control.”

Since that time, mother has stopped using drugs after completing both an intensive out-patient program and a supportive out-patient program. She has been consistently drug tested by CPS since April 2004 and has not had a positive drug test. Mother has also been prescribed different medication and her mental state is much more stable. Mother testified she has completed about thirty parenting classes— ten sessions that focused on both children’s age group; ten sessions that focused on A.P.’s age group; and ten sessions that focused on J.P.’s age group. Mother also attends both couples therapy and individual therapy. She has remarried and has had a job for almost a year, the longest she has ever held a job. Her husband is also employed, and they have a two bedroom apartment which CPS determined was suitable for the children.

Joseph Mark DeYoung testified he is a therapist for A.P. and J.P. At the time of trial, A.P. was seven-years-old and J.P. was three-years-old. DeYoung had been working with the girls weekly for about seven months. DeYoung described A.P. [413]*413as a very anxious child, evidenced by facial ticks and frequent references to “secrets” and imaginary friends. She also has difficulty with eneopresis and enuresis.2 DeY-oung described J.P. as having issues “with defiance and also pretty significant amounts of eneopresis and enuresis. General refusal to participate in any kind of toilet training.” J.P. also frequently “spaee[s] out or blank[s] out” where she stares into space or wanders off and seems to be “kind of off in another place.” DeY-oung observed that both A.P. and J.P. became more anxious and defiant after visiting with mother. In DeYoung’s opinion, the girls did not have a secure attachment with mother, and their sense of security worsened surrounding mother’s visits.

According to DeYoung, the problems he described are “absolutely” related to past trauma and chaos in the home. At one time, the girls did not see mother for a three-week period and their behavior “greatly improved.” The girls were much “brighter and much more relaxed, much more engaged with the caregivers.” Later, when CPS increased the visits to see how well mother could deal with the children, DeYoung expected their attachment with mother to increase and the visits to be more relaxed. DeYoung observed, however, that the girls’ level of attachment with mother is decreasing and getting worse. In DeYoung’s opinion, reunification is not an appropriate goal, the children do not feel secure around their mother, and there has been some type of relational injury that is unlikely to ever be repaired. DeYoung believed that if mother’s rights were terminated the girls would more likely feel a sense of security and he would be able to help the girls form attachments with others. If the girls were returned to mother’s care, DeYoung thought they would continue to reexperience the trauma of mother’s suicide attempt and drug use.

Laura Hastings testified she is a psychologist and observed mother and the girls together. She did not have any concerns about bonding between them. Hastings did, however, have concerns about mother’s “lack of awareness of appropriate boundaries ... between the parent and child.” Mother lacked confidence in her authority with them and would placate rather than setting limits.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
184 S.W.3d 410, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 1370, 2006 WL 391316, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-ap-texapp-2006.