In the Interest of C. R.

665 S.E.2d 39, 292 Ga. App. 346
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJune 27, 2008
DocketA08A0486, A08A0487
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 665 S.E.2d 39 (In the Interest of C. R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia 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 C. R., 665 S.E.2d 39, 292 Ga. App. 346 (Ga. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

SMITH, Presiding Judge.

The mother and father of two-year-old C. R. appeal from the juvenile court’s order finding C. R. to be deprived and awarding temporary custody to the Department of Family and Children Services (DFACS). In Case No. A08A0487, the mother challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and contends that the juvenile court erred in refusing to rule on her motion to withdraw a stipulation regarding deprivation. In Case No. A08A0486, the father contends that the juvenile court erred in finding deprivation and awarding temporary custody of C. R. to DFACS, and in failing to dismiss both the order for shelter care and the deprivation petition. Because these cases involve the same set of facts, we have consolidated them for appeal. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the finding of deprivation but agree with the father that , the court erred in awarding temporary custody to DFACS.

On appeal from a juvenile court’s order finding deprivation, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the juvenile court’s judgment to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found by clear and convincing evidence that the child was deprived. In doing so, we [347]*347neither weigh the evidence nor determine the credibility of witnesses; instead, we defer to the trial court’s factfinding and affirm unless the appellate standard is not met.

(Citations, punctuation and footnotes omitted.) In the Interest of H. S., 285 Ga. App. 839 (648 SE2d 143) (2007).

So viewed, the evidence showed that C. R. was placed in DFACS custody following an order for shelter care filed on January 17, 2007.1 The order stated that C. R. was being placed in shelter care because the mother did not want the child, was in the process of giving the child to his paternal grandfather, and had tested positive for cocaine in the past. The order stated further that the father, who lived with the paternal grandfather, had been ordered by a magistrate court to have no contact with the child following a charge of stalking and threatening the mother and her parents.

Following the hearing on the order for shelter care held on January 22, 2007,2 the court found probable cause to believe that C. R. was deprived because the mother had a drug dependency problem, and the father was a threat to the child and had a bond condition requiring no contact with the child, the mother, or members of the mother’s family. Four days after the hearing, DFACS filed a petition for temporary custody of C. R. alleging that the child was deprived due to drug abuse by the mother and father, failure of the mother to maintain stable employment, the mother’s incarceration for theft by taking, and the father having a condition of bond that forbade him from contacting the child, the mother, or her family.3

At the February 2007 hearing on the petition alleging deprivation, the evidence showed that C. R. was born on September 3, 2005, and that he resided with his mother and father in the maternal grandparents’ home from the time he was two weeks old until December 2005. In December or early January, the mother, father, and C. R. moved out of the maternal grandparents’ home and moved in with the father’s sister.4 The mother and father separated in March 2006, and the mother and C. R. returned to the maternal grandparents’ home. At some point, the mother and C. R. moved in with the mother’s cousin, but then both returned to the home of the maternal grandparents until January 17, 2007, when the mother took C. R. to his father and told him she could no longer take care of [348]*348the child and that DFACS “was after them.”

A caseworker testified that DFACS first became involved with the family when it received a report in September 2006 that the mother and her boyfriend5 were using ecstasy and cocaine and that the mother did not provide for C. R.’s care. The mother considered giving her parents guardianship of C. R. and informed the caseworker that she and the father had an older child that the maternal grandparents had previously adopted. The caseworker testified further that under a safety plan, she was to see the mother twice a month and that the mother was to submit to a drug screen twice per month. The mother was also required to seek employment and obtain housing. Following a positive drug screen in December 2006, the mother ceased submitting to the screens, and the caseworker could not locate her. When the caseworker located the mother in late December 2006, the mother explained that she had been “going back and forth” between her parents’ home and her cousin’s home. The caseworker was again unable to locate the mother between December 21, 2006, and January 17, 2007. The caseworker had no interaction with the father and stated that the father had no involvement in the case during this time. The caseworker testified that the mother expressed fear of C. R.’s father, stating: “I am afraid he is going to hurt me. One day he may kill me.”

The mother testified that she and the father had used cocaine before and after C. R.’s birth. She admitted that when she lived with her cousin, the cousin would care for C. R. when she went to use drugs. She also admitted that in December 2005, while the maternal grandparents were on vacation, she and the father took money and an ATM card from the grandparents’ home in order to buy drugs. When asked whether the father supported C. R., the mother testified that the father only bought diapers for C. R. when the child resided with him, had paid for C. R.’s daycare on one occasion, and had once given her $140 in child support. When asked about the father’s violent propensity, the mother stated that the father had choked her on one occasion when she was pregnant with C. R.

The father testified that the last time he used drugs was in March 2006 when he failed his employer’s drug test. He denied choking the mother and stated that he had never physically abused the mother. Although the father’s salary at the time of the hearing was approximately $2,000 per month, he could not state exactly how much he had paid to support C. R., but asserted that it was at least $50 per week. He then testified that in the year before the hearing, he paid $1,000 in child support — much less than $50 per week. He [349]*349stated further that he had bought diapers, formula, baby food, medicine, and clothing for C. R. over time.

The maternal grandmother testified that C. R. lived with her and her husband for all but six months of his life. She stated that when she and her husband went on a vacation in December 2005, they returned to find that the mother and father had stolen money and credit cards. When the maternal grandparents confronted the mother and father about the stolen money and asked that they be repaid, the father began threatening to “come over and shoot [them].” The threats continued until August or September 2006, when the maternal grandparents went to the police. These incidents were the basis of the stalking charge against the father. The maternal grandmother stated further that the mother admitted to her that the stolen money was used for drugs, and the father admitted at the deprivation hearing that he and the mother had taken the money.

The maternal grandfather testified that when he confronted the father about repaying money stolen from his home, the father began to threaten him, stating “I will kill you.

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Bluebook (online)
665 S.E.2d 39, 292 Ga. App. 346, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-c-r-gactapp-2008.