In the Interest of: A.W., a Minor

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided February 2, 2018·No. 2031 EDA 2017·Unpublished

Opinion

J-A31012-17

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

IN THE INTEREST OF: A.W., A MINOR : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA :

APPEAL OF: D.W., MOTHER : No. 2031 EDA 2017

Appeal from the Order Entered May 30, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Family Court at No(s): CP-51-DP-0032309-2010

BEFORE: PANELLA, J., and OLSON, J., and STEVENS, P.J.E. MEMORANDUM BY PANELLA, J. FILED FEBRUARY 02, 2018 D.W. (“Mother”) appeals the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, entered May 30, 2017, that temporarily suspended Mother’s supervised visitation with her son A.W. (“Child”), born in July 2009, pending the implementation of therapeutic visits.1 We affirm.

Child has been in foster care since March 2010, when Mother, a minor at that time, and Child resided at People’s Emergency Center. Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services (“DHS”) obtained an Order of Protective Custody and placed Child in foster care on March 15, 2010, after learning Mother had left Child in the care of another minor resident of the Center while she went to school. Mother had unsupervised visits with Child until September 2016, when visits were modified to line-of-sight/line-of-hearing supervised visits at the agency.  Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court.

1 The order also requires Mother to stay away from a certain caseworker, but Mother does not contest that part of the order.

J-A31012-17 DHS filed an application for an emergency permanency review hearing on April 27, 2017, in which it sought a stay-away order against Mother to protect the Community Umbrella Agency case manager, Jazzmine Mowatt, and a change in visits between Mother and Child. The trial court approved the request and the hearing took place on May 30, 2017.

Ms. Mowatt was the first witness to testify at the hearing. She had been the family’s case manager for almost three years. She stated DHS was seeking a stay-away order, on her behalf, against Mother after Mother threatened her at a hearing. Ms. Mowatt testified a security guard had to escort her to her car because Mother followed, harassed, and verbally threatened her as she left court. Ms. Mowatt thought the impetus behind Mother’s behavior toward her was that Child’s goal had been changed to adoption.

The incident outside the courtroom caused her to feel unsafe around Mother. She discussed her concerns and her possible removal from the case with her supervisor; however, it was determined that she would remain as case manager because she has a bond with the Child, and Child would be adversely affected if she were removed from the case.

Ms. Mowatt also had concerns about Mother’s behavior toward Child.

She related how Child had acted up at home after a visit with Mother on May 6, 2017, when Mother referred to Child as “spoiled” and called him “fat.”

J-A31012-17 Because of those disparaging remarks, Child told his foster mother that he needed to work out because he was overweight.

Mother engaged in other behaviors that negatively affected Child. She recalled an incident of domestic violence between Mother and her boyfriend in which police were called and about which Child expressed fears to his therapist. Ms. Mowatt testified she did not believe that suspending Mother’s visits would have a negative effect on Child, explaining that Child has a bond with and feels safe with his foster mother and is calmer without Mother’s negative influence.

In response to questions from the Child Advocate, Ms. Mowatt stated that Mother refused to abide by Agency rules during supervised visitation, refused to clean up after herself, and was uncooperative with agency staff.

On cross-examination by Mother’s attorney, Ms. Mowatt noted that, although Mother had had unsupervised visits with the Child since he was eight months old, “She’s had supervised for quite some time now.” And she explained that a visitation coach is assigned to every visit and that they tell her that Mother is hostile toward them and uncooperative.

Quincy Marshall, a visitation coach for Turning Points for Children, testified that the visits he observed had been appropriate, and that there were no issues regarding Mother’s behavior during the visits.

Janet Cotton, Child’s trauma therapist, testified she had concerns about Mother’s visits and recommended the visits cease. Ms. Cotton stated

J-A31012-17 the Child began to experience self-esteem issues following the early May visit with Mother when she referred to him as “fat” and “spoiled.” She related how he had begun to display regressive behavior, such as urinating on items in his foster mother’s home. He had also begun to exhibit risk- taking and self-harming behaviors, such as hanging out of a car window, going face first down a flight of stairs, and shoving tissues so far up his nose that he damaged his mucus membranes. Ms. Cotton recommended visitation stop because it is a threat to Child’s emotional and physical well-being.

Ms. Cotton further testified Child has undergone a psychological evaluation to address these concerns, and that she was in the process of implementing services to help him become more stable in the foster home. Ms. Cotton stated that in all the years that she has worked with Child, she has never before seen this type of behavior from him. When asked by the court what she believed was the event that may have triggered Child’s change in behavior, Ms. Cotton replied it was the visits in which Mother was disrespectful toward the agency staff in front of the Child, and after she made the negative comments to him about being “spoiled” and “fat.” Ms. Cotton further related how behavior toward his foster parent significantly worsened, becoming defiant and aggressive after this visit with Mother.

Ms. Cotton was unable to provide a timeframe for how long the suspension of visits would last, explaining it would depend on the length of time it would take to stabilize Child. In response to a question by the Child

J-A31012-17 Advocate, Ms. Cotton answered Mother had not been actively involved in Child’s therapy, and that she would have to prepare and meet with her individually before she could begin joint sessions with Child. Ms. Cotton explained Child is in a loyalty bind between caregivers. And that bind precludes permanency and stability in his life.

Mother was the last witness to testify. She gave a different account of the incident with Ms. Mowatt after the last court hearing. She claimed she merely approached Ms. Mowatt to ask her what was going on with the case, and that Ms. Mowatt responded by telling her to get out of her face, and claiming that she was threatening her. Mother denied threatening Ms. Mowatt. Mother also stated she had been trying to have Ms. Mowatt removed from the case, but her supervisor denied her multiple requests. She asked for the removal because she was never able to get in contact with, or have a timely response from Ms. Mowatt. She claimed that when Ms. Mowatt did respond, it was with aggression or attitude toward her.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court found Ms. Cotton to be credible and Mother to be not credible.

The trial court entered the order complained of, which suspended Mother’s visitation with Child and ordered Mother to stay away from Ms. Mowatt. Mother timely filed her notice of appeal and concise statement of errors complained of on appeal.

Mother presents the following questions for our review:

J-A31012-17

A. Whether the court erred in suspending Mother’s visits with [Child], when there was no evidence or testimony that there was a grave threat to [Child].

B. Whether the errors committed by the [court] deprived [Mother] of her rights to due process and equal protection under the law.

Mother’s Brief, at 3.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

In the Interest of: A.W., a Minor, (Pa. Ct. App. 2018).

In the Interest of: A.W., a Minor (In the Interest of: A.W., a Minor) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

In Re Long
459 A.2d 403 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
In the Interest of R.J.T.
9 A.3d 1179 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)