In the interest of D.G.K. v. H.H.

719 S.W.2d 510, 1986 Mo. App. LEXIS 4980
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided November 18, 1986·No. No. WD 38033·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

PRITCHARD, Presiding Judge.

Appellant, H.H., is the natural mother of six children: A son, Y.J.D., bom March 2, 1974, whose father was said to be Virgil Jerome Winston (who was not served with summons or made a party, and did not appear in court); a daughter, S.D.D., born March 22,1976, whose father appears to be respondent, P.H., whom H.H. married on October 31,1976; a son, P.H., born October 1, 1977, the child of P.H.; a son, S.L.H., born September 28, 1979, said to be the child of one Otis Cole (who was not served with summons, or made a party, and did not appear in court); a daughter, S.A.H., bom June 15, 1981, said to be the child of one Rufus Thomas (who was not served with summons, or made a party, and did not appear in court); and a son, D.G.K., bom June 5, 1984, the child of respondent, D.K.

The trial court awarded custody of V.J.D. to H.H. under the supervision of the Division of Family Services. The custody of S.D.D., P.H., S.L.H. and S.A.H. was awarded to respondent, P.H., and D.G.K.’s custody was awarded to respondent, D.K., both awards being also under the supervision of the Division of Family Services. Neither P.H. nor D.K. have filed briefs in this court.

It is the contention of appellant as to the judgments of custody that the children were without proper care, custody or support is not supported by the evidence.

The petitions in the interest of each of the minor children allege in Counts I that “The child is without proper care, custody or support in that [the] mother habitually leaves the child and her five minor siblings alone in the home without adult supervision. Instances of such behavior by the mother include: On or about the morning of April 5, 1985, when the child and four minor siblings were left in the home without supervision, on or about 10:00 P.M., April 5, 1985, when three of the child’s siblings, P.H., age 7; S.A.H., age 3 and S.L.H., age 5, were found alone without adult supervision and on or about April 11, 1985, when the child’s sibling, D.G.K., age 10 months, was found alone in the home without adult supervision and, when the mother returned home she was highly intoxicated.”

Janis Ferguson, a social worker with the Division of Family Services, investigated a hotline complaint against H.H., and on April 11, 1985, went to the home about 10:30 a.m. She knocked on the door, which was slightly ajar causing her to figure there must be someone home. She waited about five minutes and D.K. “came to the door and he invited me in and ran upstairs and came back downstairs with the baby [D.G.K.]. Q. Had you entered the residence before [D.K.] introduced himself? A. No. Q. How long were you there, approximately, before [D.K.] arrived? A. At least five minutes, possibly longer. Q. When you and [D.K.] entered the residence did you check to see if there was anyone inside? A. There was no one in the front room. [D.K.] ran upstairs, leaving me in the living room. When he came back downstairs, he had the baby [D.G.K.], with him.” In about ten minutes, H.H. arrived, Ms. Ferguson heard her yelling up the block before she got to the door. When H.H. came in she and D.K. began arguing loud and yelling at each other, and P.H. was carrying a beer can and drinking from it. During the argument with D.K., H.H. denied that she had been gone out all night and that she had stolen his car.

The testimony of Ms. Ferguson does not establish with certainty whether D.K. came to the door from inside the house or from its exterior. The testimony is, however, subject to the inference that he arrived from outside the house, and that the infant, D.G.K., was alone in it for some period of time.

P.H. testified that his daughter called him on April 6, 1985 (later changed to a Friday, April 5), telling him that the chil[512] dren were being left alone. He went to H.H.’s home, arriving about 8:00 p.m. to pick up his kids, and found all of the children, except V.J.D., there. Although P.H. testified that H.H. was there when he arrived, that appears to be in error in view of this further testimony that he put the children to work cleaning the house, which was a shambles, helped them in that work for about thirty minutes, then “went around the corner (to H.H.’s mother’s house) to see if she was there and she still had not gotten there.” P.H. returned to the home and stayed there about an hour. He went back around the corner to her mother’s house to see if she knew where H.H. was, and when he returned to the home, H.H. was there, in a drunken condition. P.H. was asked, “Q. Have you ever had occasion to find the children left unsupervised before? A. Oh, yes. Q. Do you know how many times you have found the children unsupervised in her home? A. Plenty of times. Q. Would you say it has been more than five times, or less than five times? A. Definitely. Q. Do you know about how many times it has been that you have found the children unsupervised? A. Basically, any time I come unannounced, mainly on Fridays and Saturdays nights.” At another point in the hearing, P.H. testified that he had found the children unsupervised more than ten times.

James Rauch, assistant director of the Mattie Rhodes Center, had S.D.D. in a summer camp in 1984, and had her in group therapy from September, 1984 to March of 1986. It was his practice to take the children home after the group therapy sessions, which ended around 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. On four occasions, when he brought S.D.D. to her home, there was no one there, and the child was taken to her grandmother’s. On a fifth occasion, the therapy group had gone to a circus, and no one was present in H.H.’s home when they got there about 10:30 p.m.

Appellant says there is no evidence to support the specific allegations that the children were found alone without adult supervision on April 5, 1985. P.H. did testify that H.H. was home on April 6, 1985, when he got there, but that date was changed to April 5, as noted. The allegation is that H.H. habitually left the children alone, and in addition to the specific instances, P.H. testified that he had found the children left unsupervised “plenty of times” — definitely more than five or less than five times (which is not clear); and “Basically any time I come unannounced, mainly on Fridays and Saturdays nights.” He further testified that he found the children unsupervised more than ten times. P.H. testified further that his weekend appearances occurred from the fall of 1984 to April, 1985, when the children were removed from H.H.’s custody, a period of about six months.

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In the interest of D.G.K. v. H.H., 719 S.W.2d 510, 1986 Mo. App. LEXIS 4980 (Mo. Ct. App. 1986).

719 S.W.2d 510 (In the interest of D.G.K. v. H.H.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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