In the Interest of D. F.

582 S.E.2d 16, 261 Ga. App. 148, 2003 Fulton County D. Rep. 1512, 2003 Ga. App. LEXIS 573
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMay 6, 2003
DocketA03A0009
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 582 S.E.2d 16 (In the Interest of D. F.) 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 D. F., 582 S.E.2d 16, 261 Ga. App. 148, 2003 Fulton County D. Rep. 1512, 2003 Ga. App. LEXIS 573 (Ga. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

Andrews, Presiding Judge.

This termination of parental rights case was previously before us. In the Interest of D. F., 251 Ga. App. 859 (555 SE2d 225) (2001). There, this Court concluded that clear and convincing evidence did not support the juvenile court’s finding in June 2000, that continued deprivation would “cause or is likely to cause serious physical, mental, emotional, or moral harm to the child[ren].” OCGA § 15-11-94 (b) (4) (A).

J. R. appeals the July 1, 2002 juvenile court order terminating her parental rights to D. F., I. F., and A. F.1 following remand, a second petition to terminate her parental rights, and additional hearings held pursuant to In the Interest of D.F., supra.

1. In her first and second enumerations, J. R. argues that the juvenile court erred in terminating her rights because the State did not prove parental misconduct or inability as required by OCGA § 15-11-94 and did not prove that termination was in the best interests of the children.

In In the Interest of D. F., supra, however, this Court found that,

[t]he record shows that the Carroll County Department of Family & Children Services (the “Department” [or “DFACS”]) became involved with the mother and her three children in 1996. The mother was then 16 years old, and she required the Department’s assistance in caring for her children. In 1997, the mother damaged her boyfriend’s car, for which she was convicted of criminal trespass and placed on probation. In May and June 1998, the mother was jailed for violation of probation because she failed to perform commu[149]*149nity service. No one in the mother’s family was willing to take her children when she was incarcerated, and so the Department assumed emergency custody. After a hearing, the juvenile court found in an unappealed order that the children were deprived and awarded temporary custody to the Department. The children have been placed in foster care. A caseworker testified that, before the mother was jailed, her parenting skills were not so poor that the Department would have been justified in removing the children from her custody. After the mother was released from jail, she agreed with the Department on a plan for her permanent reunification with the children. Under the plan, the mother’s strengths were noted as “[she] loves her children; no'domestic violence; no substance abuse.” Needs were listed as “child needs met; develop relationship with children; maintain emotional stability; maintain stable housing; maintain employment.” The mother’s plan goals included developing and maintaining an appropriate relationship with her children, maintaining emotional stability, maintaining stable housing, and maintaining employment. The mother was also required to cooperate with the child support enforcement division. The mother never successfully completed her case plan, although the evidence shows at least some level of cooperation and effort in each area. The mother visited her children more than 60 times, which was more than 98 percent of the scheduled visitations.' The mother attended ten sessions with a psychological counselor, as the Department recommended. The Department asked the mother to attend joint counseling with the children’s father, and she appeared for the counseling session, although he did not. And although the Department maintains the mother is deficient in her parenting skills, she did complete a required course in parenting. The mother’s satisfaction of her employment, housing, and child support goals was more problematic. She abandoned her apartment in October 1999 and moved in with her grandmother, who has never agreed to take in the mother’s children. The mother also had difficulty securing permanent employment. She was employed at a fast food restaurant from August 1998 through May 1999, when she was fired. She started another job in June 1999 and was laid off after six weeks. She had a seasonal job at Honey Baked Ham around Thanksgiving of 1999. At the time of the hearing in May 2000, the mother was eight months pregnant [with G. B., born June 19, [150]*1502000,]2 and unemployed. The mother was unable to maintain her child support payments. However, she attended school as a part of an agreement with the child support enforcement division. In September 1999, the mother had an altercation with the children’s father (who did not live with the mother at the time and is currently incarcerated) and was jailed for a day. It was after this incident that the Department sought to terminate the mother’s parental rights. The caseworker testified that she filed the petition because there had been no change in the mother’s situation since 1996, and because she failed to make further progress on her case plan.

(Punctuation omitted.) Id. at 860-861.

On this factual basis, this Court concluded that “[c]lear and convincing evidence [did] support the juvenile court’s findings that (1) the children were deprived, (2) the deprivation was caused by lack of parental care and control, and (3) the deprivation was likely to continue.” In the Interest of D. F., supra at 861. Therefore, these findings cannot now be contested by J. R., as they are the law of the case.3 In the Interest of B. G., 242 Ga. App. 546 (530 SE2d 473) (2000).

While J. R. is correct that past deprivation alone cannot support a termination order, the juvenile court “ ‘ “can consider a parent’s past conduct in determining whether such conditions of deprivation are likely to continue.” ’ ” In the Interest of R. W., 248 Ga. App. 522, 524 (1) (546 SE2d 882) (2001), cited in In the Interest of N. Q., 260 Ga. App. 118, 121 (578 SE2d 920) (2003).

Further, on appeal, this Court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, defers to the juvenile court’s factfinding, and does not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility. In the Interest of C. M., 251 Ga. App. 374 (554 SE2d 510) (2001). Following the issuance on October 11, 2001, of In the Interest ofD. F., J. R. continued in her failure to comply with the case plan regarding establishing a parent/child relationship with her children, obtaining and maintaining independent suitable housing, obtaining and maintaining employment, and supporting her children, resulting in the Department’s filing its second petition to terminate J. R.’s parental rights on February 20, 2002.

Viewing, the evidence produced at the hearings conducted May [151]*15122, 2002, and Juné 19, 2002, pursuant to the standard set out above, it was that Cleveland, a Carroll County DFACS adoption placement worker, had been involved with J. R. since April 2000, and had unsuccessfully sought family members with whom to place D. F., I. F., and A. F. These three children have been in DFACS’s custody since May 20, 1998. The children were placed in a Madison County “foster to adopt” home where they had been for over a year as of May 2002, and all three children had bonded with that family.

D. F. and I. F. had been seeing Dr. Eason, a clinical psychologist with a specialty in child and family psychology. D. F. was first seen in July 2000, at which time Dr. Eason diagnosed her with attention deficit/hyperactive disorder (moderate to severe) (AD/HD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD).

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In the Interest Of: D. T. A.
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2012

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Bluebook (online)
582 S.E.2d 16, 261 Ga. App. 148, 2003 Fulton County D. Rep. 1512, 2003 Ga. App. LEXIS 573, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-d-f-gactapp-2003.