In the Interest of H.R.

87 S.W.3d 691, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 4877
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 10, 2002
DocketNo. 04-01-00737-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by104 cases

This text of 87 S.W.3d 691 (In the Interest of H.R.) 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 H.R., 87 S.W.3d 691, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 4877 (Tex. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

Opinion by:

ALMA L. LÓPEZ, Justice.

This is an appeal from a decree terminating the parental rights of a mother to her daughter. In six issues to this court, Julia Reyes contends that the evidence was legally and factually insufficient to support termination and finding that such termination was in the best interest of her child. In two other issues, Reyes contends that the trial court abused its discretion in denying her motion for continuance and motion for new trial. In a separate brief to this court, Reyes also asserts that the trial court erred in ruling she did not warrant appointed counsel on appeal.1 We affirm the judgment of the trial court. However, we reverse the trial court’s ruling denying Reyes appointed counsel on appeal.

Background

On November 30, 2000, the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (the “Department”) filed its original petition seeking termination of the parent-child relationship of Reyes and H.R.2 H.R. was twenty-months old at the time the petition was filed. The petition was filed after H.R. and her nine-year old cousin, J.S., were taken into emergency custody on or about November 17, 2000 by the Department after the cousin complained to a school counselor that she and H.R. had been abused. In a sworn affidavit in support of the petition, the Department alleged that J.S. reported to her counselor that Reyes would use illegal drugs in front of her and H.R. She informed her counsel- or that Reyes had many different men come to their home on a daily basis and that sometimes Reyes would leave her and [695]*695H.R. with these men when she went out drinking. J.S. also reported that Reyes left H.R.’s care up to her. When Reyes would return home from a bar, she would wake J.S. to care for H.R. J.S. reported that Reyes would hit and pinch her and H.R. such that it would leave a mark or bruise. J.S.’s school counselor observed that J.S. had purple bruises on her upper left arm. On that day, a temporary order appointing the Department as temporary managing conservator was entered. When family case workers arrived at the home to remove the children, they found H.R. with a man who would not identify himself. Reyes was not at home and the man could not tell case workers where she was. Case workers found H.R. in a soiled diaper and infested with head lice. While at the house, J.S. was able to show the workers where Reyes’s drug paraphernalia was kept.

On November 30, 2000, the court entered an order for protection of H.R. and named the Department her temporary sole managing conservator. H.R. was placed in foster care and appointed an attorney ad litem. On December 17, 2000 a permanency hearing was held. An order entered after that hearing appointed Reyes as temporary possessory conservator of H.R. The court granted limited visitation rights to Reyes and ordered her to pay child support in the amount of $155.00 a month. The court specifically ordered Reyes to attend counseling, parenting classes, complete an in-patient drug treatment program and comply with the Department’s service plan. The trial court subsequently appointed an attorney ad litem for Reyes pursuant to section 107.018 of the Texas Family Code. Reyes filed an answer to the Department’s petition which generally denied the allegations. After a status hearing in January 2001, the court entered an order approving the Department’s service plan and specifically found that Reyes had reviewed and understood the plan and was willing to comply with it.

Permanency plan progress reports mapping Reyes’s progress were filed with the court. The first was entered in June 2001. According to the report, Reyes was marginally and sporadically participating with the service plan. For example, she missed more appointments than she attended for an out-patient drug treatment program. At one point, she had even been discharged from the program, but was allowed back in. Reyes refused to enroll in an in-patient treatment program despite the fact that she had tested positive for cocaine in February 2001. She had obtained a psychological assessment and was diagnosed with a personality disorder.

On June 2, 2001, Reyes filed a motion for continuance of the next permanency hearing for a six-month period in order to complete the requirements of her service plan. That motion was partially granted and a non-jury trial was set for October 2001. A hearing was held and an order was entered continuing the service plan. Another progress report was entered in September 2001. The report reflected that Reyes was unsuccessfully discharged for a second time from the out-patient drug treatment program. While she had previously attended individual counseling sessions, she stopped attending in May 2001. She also stopped attending her parenting classes. Reyes was employed for a period of two months. She, however, lacked permanent housing. She also had maintained sporadic contact with the Department. The report also noted that she had not participated in any parent-child visits since June 2001.

Subsequently, Reyes filed another motion for continuance. A non-jury trial was set for October 24, 2001. On October 24, 2001, Reyes’s motion for continuance was [696]*696denied and a non-jury trial was held. The trial court entered an order terminating Reyes’s parental rights. The trial court specifically found that there was clear and convincing evidence to support six statutory grounds for terminating Reyes’s parental rights:

(1) knowingly placing or knowingly allowing H.R. to remain in conditions or surroundings which endangered her physical or emotional well-being;
(2) engaging in conduct or knowingly placing H.R. with persons who engaged in conduct which endangered her physical and emotional well-being;
(3) constructively abandoning H.R. for no less than six months while she was in the custody of the Department;
(4) failing to comply with the provisions of a court order which specifically established the actions necessary for Reyes to obtain the return of H.R.;
(5) using a controlled substance that endangered the health and safety of H.R.; and
(6) causing H.R. to be born addicted to an illegal controlled substance.

See Tex. Fam.Code. Ann. § 161.001(l)(D),(E),(N),(O),(P) and (R) (Vernon Supp.2002). Reyes filed a motion for new trial and an amended motion for new trial in November 2001. Reyes also filed a request for findings of fact and conclusions of law. A final order terminating Gilbert Reyes’s parental rights was entered on December 12, 2001.3 The trial court denied Reyes’s motion for new trial and entered findings of fact and conclusions of law on January 28, 2002. The trial court’s findings specifically stated that Reyes physically abused H.R. prior to November 30, 2000. Additionally, once H.R. was in the Department’s custody, Reyes failed to regularly visit her. The trial court also found that Reyes failed to complete an in-patient drug treatment program as ordered by the court. The trial court also found that Reyes had also failed to complete services or classes, did not seek access or visit H.R., and failed to establish a safe and stable environment where H.R. could be placed with her.

STANDARD OP REVIEW

Involuntary termination proceedings must be strictly scrutinized. Holick v. Smith, 685 S.W.2d 18

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Bluebook (online)
87 S.W.3d 691, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 4877, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-hr-texapp-2002.