In the Interest of D. O. R.

653 S.E.2d 314, 287 Ga. App. 659
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedSeptember 27, 2007
DocketA07A1198, A07A1199
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 653 S.E.2d 314 (In the Interest of D. O. 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 D. O. R., 653 S.E.2d 314, 287 Ga. App. 659 (Ga. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

BARNES, Chief Judge.

The mother and father ofD. O.R. appeal the termination of their parental rights, which we have consolidated for consideration. The father contends that the evidence does not clearly and convincingly establish that he was unfit or unable to care for the child. The mother contends that the evidence does not establish that the child’s deprivation would continue or that continued deprivation would harm the child, and also contends her rights to due process were violated. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the juvenile court’s decision to terminate the parental rights of both parents.

In considering the parents’ appeals, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the juvenile court’s disposition and determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found by clear and convincing evidence that the parents’ rights should have been terminated. We neither weigh the evidence nor determine the credibility of any witnesses, but instead defer to the juvenile court’s findings of fact. In the Interest of J. G. J. P., 268 Ga. App. 614 (602 SE2d 320) (2004).

So viewed, the evidence shows that the Department of Family and Children Services (DFACS) became involved with D. O. R.’s mother before he was born. In July 2003, DFACS worked with the mother to develop a safety or case plan regarding her first child, a daughter. When the mother became pregnant with D. O. R. in the summer of 2004, DFACS was still working with her. In August 2004 the mother was taken to the hospital after she tried to cut her wrists, where she reported increased depression during her pregnancy because she said D. O. R.’s father did not want the baby. In October 2004, when she was eight months pregnant, she reportedly got into a physical fight with the father who thought she was going to smoke a cigarette.

When D. O. R. was born, the caseworker visited the mother and father at the hospital and tried to convince the mother to enter into a social services safety plan with DFACS so that D. O. R. could stay with her, hut the mother, then 19, was adamant about living with the father, then 20, and would not agree with the terms and conditions of the plan. DFACS obtained an emergency protective order to gain custody of D. O. R. On the day D. O. R. was to be discharged from the hospital into DFACS custody, hospital security was called because the father was angry.

The juvenile court issued a shelter care order, and subsequently an order finding the child deprived and directing DFACS to prepare [660]*660a case plan for reunification. Both parents stipulated that the allegations in the deprivation petition were true. Three months later, DFACS moved the court to allow the plan to change to nonreunification, termination of parental rights, and adoption because the parents refused to work on the plan. After a hearing, the juvenile court made factual findings and concluded that reunification efforts should be terminated, noting that the parents would have to complete the elements of the plan sufficiently to remove the risk to the child before they could regain custody.

After a status conference in September 2005, the court denied the parents’ request for return of custody, finding that the causes and conditions of D. 0. R.’s deprivation had not been remedied. The court also ordered the parents to submit to a drug screen, which they refused to do. In March 2006, DFACS petitioned the juvenile court to terminate both parents’ parental rights, and the court appointed a guardian ad litem to represent D. 0. R.’s interest. Both parents answered and requested an additional six months to complete the plan goals. Following a hearing in May 2006, the juvenile court terminated the parental rights of D. O. R.’s mother and father.

The evidence supports the juvenile court’s findings that neither parent completed the goals of the reunification case plan. Neither maintained stable residences for six months, each having moved four or five times in the previous eighteen months, and neither had maintained a job for six months. The mother did not obtain a domestic violence assessment, although the record reflects a relationship with D. O. R.’s father which was always volatile and unhealthy, as well as mental and physical abuse. Relatives and counselors testified that the mother sought the protection of the local battered women’s shelter several times and other times called her aunt to come and pick her up. She did not follow up with counseling. The father never paid any support and the mother made only one payment of $30 two weeks before the hearing.

DFACS requested three drug screens and in September 2005 the court ordered the parents to undergo a drug screen, but neither complied. The father explained at the termination hearing that he would not take the court-ordered drug test because he was angry about the nonreunification plan. He did not begin his anger management classes until January 2006, and only attended three classes. He sought another six months to comply with the plan, testifying that he would stay in the job and house he obtained a month before the hearing, so that in six months he would have seven months of stability as required by his case plan. He also admitted signing termination papers in March 2005 which he rescinded within ten minutes. When asked why he had not completed the anger management classes in the past 18 months, he explained:

[661]*661I figure as a father — I don’t even see why I was on the case plan. I didn’t know I was going to get a case plan by me signing legitimation—getting legitimation papers and stuff like that because I just thought it was for the mother. That’s one reason why I was looking at it as like the mother is the reason for the child being there [in DFACS custody] and I ain’t really no cause of nothing that’s in it but I’ve still got to follow the case plan, I guess.

The mother also sought an extension of six months to meet the goals in her original reunification plan but said she was not then ready to take the child. She testified that she would be ready in six months because she had a better-paying job, which she started two days before the hearing. She could not explain why she had refused to take a drug screen or failed to meet with the domestic violence assessor.

A juvenile court considers two issues in deciding whether a parent’s rights to his child should he terminated. OCGA § 15-11-94 (a). First, it considers whether clear and convincing evidence establishes parental misconduct or inability, and in doing so considers four factors: (i) Is the child deprived? (ii) Did lack of proper parental care or control cause the deprivation? (iii) Is the cause of the deprivation likely to continue or unlikely to be remedied? and (iv) Would continued deprivation cause serious physical, mental, emotional, or moral harm? OCGA§ 15-11-94 (b) (4) (A) (i)-(iv).

If the court finds parental misconduct or inability after considering these four factors, then it must consider whether the termination of the parents’ rights would be in the child’s best interest, “considering the physical, mental, emotional, and moral condition and needs of the child..., including the need for a secure and stable home.” OCGA§ 15-11-94 (a);In the Interest of R. W, 248 Ga. App.

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In THE INTEREST OF B. R. F., a Child
770 S.E.2d 912 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2015)

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Bluebook (online)
653 S.E.2d 314, 287 Ga. App. 659, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-d-o-r-gactapp-2007.