In the Interest of: B.C., a Minor

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 15, 2018
Docket712 MDA 2017
StatusUnpublished

This text of In the Interest of: B.C., a Minor (In the Interest of: B.C., a Minor) 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: B.C., a Minor, (Pa. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

J-S70037-17

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

IN THE INTEREST OF: B.C., A : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF MINOR : PENNSYLVANIA : : APPEAL OF: A.C., IV : : : : : No. 712 MDA 2017

Appeal from the Decree March 24, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County Orphans' Court at No(s): A-8497

BEFORE: GANTMAN, P.J., SHOGAN, J., and OTT, J.

MEMORANDUM BY OTT, J.: FILED MAY 15, 2018

A.C., IV, (“Father”) appeals from the March 24, 2017 decree in the Court

of Common Pleas of Luzerne County involuntarily terminating his parental

rights to his daughter, B.C. (“Child”), born in January of 2006.1 Upon review,

we affirm.

On November 3, 2016, Luzerne County Children and Youth Services

(“CYS”) filed a petition for the involuntary termination of Father’s parental

rights pursuant to 23 Pa.C.S. § 2511(a)(1), (2), (5), (8), and (b). By order

the same date, the orphans’ court appointed counsel to represent Father, and

____________________________________________

1M.J.F. a/k/a M.J.S. (“Mother”) voluntarily relinquished her parental rights, and the court issued a decree to that effect on March 13, 2017. Mother did not file a notice of appeal, and she is not a party to this appeal. J-S70037-17

it appointed Paul Delaney, Esquire, to represent Child as her Guardian Ad

Litem (“GAL”) and legal counsel.2 The hearing on the petition occurred on

March 3, 2017, at which time Child was eleven years old. Prior to the

testimonial evidence, CYS’s counsel made a motion in open court to amend

its petition by requesting termination under Section 2511(a)(1) and (b) only.

N.T., 3/3/17, at 5. Neither Father’s counsel nor Attorney Delaney objected.

2 At the commencement of the subject proceedings, Attorney Delaney introduced himself to the court as Child’s court appointed GAL in the adoption and dependency matters. See N.T., 3/3/17, at 3. This Court has recently held that we will address sua sponte the failure of an orphans’ court to appoint counsel pursuant to 23 Pa.C.S. § 2313(a). See In re K.J.H., 2018 PA Super 37 *2 (Pa. Super. filed February 20, 2018). Our Supreme Court, in In re Adoption of L.B.M., 161 A.3d 172 (Pa. 2017) (plurality), held that Section 2313(a) requires that counsel be appointed to represent the legal interests of any child involved in a contested involuntary termination proceeding. The Court defined a child’s legal interest as synonymous with his or her preferred outcome. With respect to this Court’s holding in In re K.M., 53 A.3d 781 (Pa. Super. 2012), that a GAL who is an attorney may act as counsel pursuant to Section 2313(a) so long as the dual roles do not create a conflict between the child’s best interest and legal interest, the L.B.M. Court did not overrule it.

In this case, the orphans’ court appointed Attorney Delaney to represent Child as her GAL and legal counsel in the November 3, 2016 order. Further, the order provided, “Said attorney shall make an immediate determination if a conflict of interest exists between these two roles and, if it is determined, then said attorney shall petition this [c]ourt within ten (10) days of this [o]rder, seeking appointment of a separate Guardian Ad Litem for the minor child.” Order, 11/3/16. Attorney Delaney did not seek the appointment of a separate GAL. Likewise, our review of the record, discussed infra, reveals there is no conflict between Child’s legal and best interests. Therefore, we do not remand this matter. Cf. In re T.M.L.M., 2018 PA Super 87 (filed April 13, 2018) (remand for further proceedings when six-year-old child’s preference was equivocal and the attorney neglected to interview the child to determine whether legal and best interest were in conflict).

-2- J-S70037-17

Id. The court granted CYS’s motion and amended the involuntary termination

petition accordingly. Id. at 5-6.

DHS presented the testimony of its caseworker, Lynn Lesh, and Father

testified on his own behalf. The testimonial evidence revealed that Child was

removed from Mother on March 27, 2015, when she was nine years old. N.T.,

3/3/17, at 7. Father was last involved with Child when she was one and a half

years old. Id. at 12. Father was incarcerated at the time of her placement.3

Id. at 24-25. Father wrote one letter to Child on November 19, 2015,

pursuant to a court order, but he never contacted Child again during her

placement or inquired of CYS as to her well-being. Id. at 8-12.

Child resides in kinship care with her step-grandparents, whom she has

known since she was two years old, the approximate time when Mother

married their son. Id. at 50. Child has considered them her grandparents

since that time. Id. Ms. Lesh testified on direct examination that Child “has

voiced to me several times when I meet with her that she just wants to be

adopted and have a better life with her grandma and grandpa than she’s had

because she did not have a good life growing up.” Id. at 55. Child is

3 At the time of the termination hearing, Father was serving a sentence at State Correctional Institution Forest for crimes that Father testified involved theft. N.T., 3/3/17, at 31-32. The certified record does not include the date or length of Father’s sentence. Ms. Lesh testified that Father would be eligible for parole in 2019. Id. at 25.

-3- J-S70037-17

diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”) for reasons not

specified in the record, and she receives counseling. Id. at 14.

By decree dated March 13, 2017, and filed on March 24, 2017, the

orphans’ court involuntarily terminated Father’s parental rights. Thereafter,

on April 20, 2017, the court appointed new counsel, Keith Hunter, Esquire, to

represent Father. On April 24, 2017, Father, through counsel, filed a timely

notice of appeal and a concise statement of errors complained of on appeal

pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a)(2)(i) and (b). The orphans’ court filed its Rule

1925(a) opinion on May 24, 2017.

On August 29, 2017, Attorney Hunter filed a petition for leave to

withdraw as counsel and an Anders brief. A panel of this Court denied

counsel’s petition for leave to withdraw and remanded the case. See In the

Interest of B.C., 712 MDA 2017 (Pa. Super. Dec. 28, 2017) (unpublished

memorandum). On remand, this Court directed the orphans’ court to either

appoint new counsel or direct Attorney Hunter to continue on the case. We

also directed the court to issue an order directing Father’s counsel to file a

Rule 1925(b) statement that properly preserved all issues to be raised before

this Court.

As such, on January 4, 2018, the court appointed new counsel for

Father. On January 9, 2018, new counsel filed in the orphans’ court a petition

for leave to withdraw, due to a conflict of interest. On that same date, January

9, 2018, the court granted counsel’s petition to withdraw and appointed

-4- J-S70037-17

Robert Kobilinski, Esquire, as counsel for Father. Further, the court directed

Attorney Kobilinski to file a Rule 1925(b) statement within ten days of the

date of the order. Attorney Kobilinski filed the required statement on January

31, 2018,4 wherein he raises one issue concerning 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 2511(a)(1).

On February 6, 2018, the orphans’ court filed a supplemental Rule 1925(a)

opinion in which it incorporates its May 24, 2017 opinion.

Father raises one issue for our review:

A.

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