In the Interest of C.V.

531 S.W.3d 301
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 25, 2017
DocketNo. 07-17-00072-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 531 S.W.3d 301 (In the Interest of C.V.) 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 C.V., 531 S.W.3d 301 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

James T, Campbell, Justice

Appellee the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services sought termination of the parental rights of the mother and the father to their child, C.V.2 After a bench trial, the court signed an ordér 'terminating the mother’s parental' rights but not those of the father, TV appointed the Department • C.V.’s 'permanent managing conservator'and the father possessory conservator.3 At the time of the final hearing in February 2017, C.V. was twenty-one months old.

On appeal, the mother does not challenge the court’s findings that she engaged in endangering conduct, placed C.V, in endangering conditions, and had her parental rights to another child'terminated under Family Code section 161.001(b)(1)(D) or (E). See Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 161.001(b)(1)(D), (E), (M) (West Supp. 2016). Rather, through a single issue she challenges the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence supporting the finding that termination of her parental rights is in the best interest of C.V. After considering all the evidence, we conclude the evidence sufficiently supports the best-interest finding, and will affirm the trial court’s order of termination.

Background

The mother is also the biological mother of S.V. and D.V, They were born in 2012 and 2014 respectively. Their biological father is J.V. The Department removed S.V. and D.V. in 2014 but the mother began working for their return under a court-ordered service plan. By the time of C.V.’s birth in May 2016 the mother’s drug tests were negative and she was continuing to work on the service plan’s requirements. The Department therefore did not initiate a case concerning C.V. During the summer of 2015 the mother and the father were each placed on community supervision; she for burglary of a vehicle, he for driving while intoxicated.

In September 2015, the Department returned S.V. and D,V. to the mother under a monitored return. The mother made sufficient progress under the service plan that dismissal of the Department’s case was anticipated for December 2015. Preceding [303]*303dismissal, however, the Department directed the mother to submit to a hair-follicle drug assessment. The result of the December 4, 2015 test was positive for metham-phetamines and cocaine. Because of the test result the Department immediately removed S.V., D.V. and C.V.

On the initiation of this case, the Department was appointed temporary managing conservator and C.V. was placed in foster care. The father and the mother appeared at the December 22, 2015 adversary hearing. In part, the order signed after that hearing specified actions necessary for the mother to obtain C.V.’s return. The father’s paternity was judicially established by order of April 5,2016.

The mother’s parental rights to S,V. and D.V. were terminated after a jury trial held in June 2016. Their father, J.V., voluntarily relinquished his parental rights to those children.4

At the time of their December removal, the Department workers found the three children and the mother at a park. According to testimony, the day was cold and C.V. was found in a car seat, unkempt, and clothed only in a diaper. On December 15, 2015, a hair sample from C.V. tested positive for methamphetamines. Over a month later, the test was repeated at the mother’s insistence but the result was again positive for methamphetamines. About a month after removal S.V. and D.V. were drug-tested and the results were negative for each.

The director of a testing laboratory testified at the final hearing in this case that the concentration of drug in C.V.’s sample was greater than the mother’s. In his' opinion, a child’s positive test result might result from the child touching a contaminated surface with a hand and then placing the hand in the mouth. But, he believed, a positive result would not arise from a onetime occurrence. According to the director, a drug appears in the hair between four and eleven days of use with a ninety-day window for detection. The probation officer who supervised the community supervision cases of the father and the mother testified that the father told her in December 2015 he was concerned about C.V. because the mother took the children to the house of her sister, A.H., where he knew drugs were present.

The mother’s probation officer testified at the final hearing the mother’s urine specimen given the probation department on December 10, 2015, produced a negative result as did a late-January 2016 hair-follicle analysis. Likewise, a May 2016 urinalysis was negative. As part of the service plan in the termination case, the mother submitted to random drug screenings as directed and none were positive.

The father testified at the final hearing through an interpreter. At the time of the final hearing he was age fifty-four and the mother age twenty-three. He moved to Bailey County from Florida. He is a self-employed contractor largely doing work with stucco. He does not have a driver’s license but depends on the mother for transportation. Following C.V.’s removal he and the mother began living together and doing stucco work together. They intend to marry one day, according to the father. The father testified that since he and the mother began living together their relationship improved. In his opinion, the mother’s positive drug-test was “false.” He [304]*304further explained he and the mother were working together to regain custody of C.V.

After spending about three months in a foster home C.V. was placed with L.C., where she remained at the time of the final hearing. L.C. is the mother’s half-sister who lives near Dallas. She holds a professional position and lives in a comfortable home with a large backyard, in what a caseworker characterized as a “very nice neighborhood.” The caseworker added the children attend daycare and L.C. takes them on outings. D.V., C.V.’s half-brother, is also in L.C.’s care. L.C. did not testify at the final hearing but the caseworker testified that L.C.’s home passed a home study and in the caseworker’s opinion would pass an adoptive home study because L.C. intended to seek adoption.

The mother’s final-hearing defense highlighted her conduct from the time of C.V.’s removal in December 2015 until the final hearing. She testified, and proof to the contrary was not offered, that, since C.V.’s removal, she had not been arrested or used illegal substances or alcohol and had performed requested drug tests without a positive result, worked steadily with the father, completed a psychological evaluation, participated in counseling as ordered, completed parenting classes and anger management counseling, completed a drug and alcohol assessment, and was attending AA/NA meetings. In the mother’s opinion, she completed the required services. The evidence showed the mother had limited visitation with C.V. after the child’s placement with L.C. The mother and the father once traveled to L.C.’s residence to visit C.V. L.C. brought C.V. to Lubbock twice.5 The mother testified she plans to continue living with the father and to place C.V. in daycare while she and the father work.

In her final hearing testimony, the mother asserted she had not used drugs since April 2014. She insisted the results of her December 2015 drug test were wrong, and suggested the test had been tampered with.

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Bluebook (online)
531 S.W.3d 301, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-cv-texapp-2017.