In the Interest of J. L.

603 S.E.2d 742, 269 Ga. App. 226
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedAugust 23, 2004
DocketA04A1572
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 603 S.E.2d 742 (In the Interest of J. L.) 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 J. L., 603 S.E.2d 742, 269 Ga. App. 226 (Ga. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

Mikell, Judge.

L. D., the biological mother of 22-month-old J. L., appeals the juvenile court’s order finding the child deprived and awarding temporary custody to the Irwin County Department of Family and Children Services (the “Department”). We affirm.

On appeal from a juvenile court’s order finding deprivation, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the juvenile court’s judgment to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found by clear and convincing evidence that the [child was] deprived. We neither weigh evidence nor determine the credibility of witnesses.1

So viewed, the evidence shows that on September 18, 2003, the Department investigated a report that appellant, a single mother, was abusing drugs and alcohol. The Department established a safety plan, which appellant twice refused to sign. On September 19, 2003, the Department obtained emergency custody of J. L., then 13 months old, and placed him in foster care. Following a shelter care hearing on September 22, 2003, the juvenile court found J. L. deprived, but returned him to appellant after she agreed to a second safety plan established by the Department. The second safety plan required appellant to submit to a formal substance abuse assessment; to participate in substance abuse therapy and treatment if appropriate; to provide responsible adult supervision for J. L. at all times; to provide a safe drug-free environment; to provide for J. L.’s basic needs; to submit to random drug testing; and to cooperate with the Department and notify them if she moved.

Beth Underwood, a Department case manager, testified that appellant submitted to a substance abuse assessment on October 10, 2003, and underwent drug screening at Irwin County Hospital on October 20, 2003, and November 3, 2003. The first drug screen was positive for marijuana, and the second was positive for marijuana and cocaine. Appellant was referred to the New Focus Center for Women at Behavioral Health Service (“New Focus”) for substance abuse therapy and began treatment on November 4,2003. The Department also encouraged appellant to attend parenting classes, which she refused.

[227]*227Roscoe Edwards, director of New Focus, testified that he performed appellant’s initial intake evaluation and that appellant admitted that she suffered from depression but denied that she had a substance abuse problem. A staff physician diagnosed appellant with depression and prescribed anti-depressants. One week into the program, appellant admitted to Edwards that she had a drug problem. According to Edwards, appellant attended New Focus’s drug treatment program until December 4, 2003, but failed to complete the program. Edwards described the program as an intensive outpatient program consisting of regular daily attendance for a minimum of ninety days; appellant attended only ten days over a thirty-day period before quitting on December 5, 2003. During this period, appellant was given five random drug screens, all of which came back positive for marijuana and/or cocaine.

On December 4, 2003, Underwood went to appellant’s home to discuss her positive drug screens, her lack of attendance at New Focus, her failure to attend parenting classes, and the need to comply with her safety plan. Appellant was argumentative and demanded several times that Underwood leave her home. Because appellant continued to abuse drugs and failed to comply with the second safety plan, the Department filed a complaint on December 5,2003, seeking an emergency order returning custody of J. L. to the Department. On that same day, the juvenile court awarded emergency custody of J. L. to the Department. According to Edwards, appellant called him that day and said “if I don’t have my child, I’m not coming back [to New Focus].” On December 14, appellant again told Edwards that there was no point in returning to New Focus.

Mindy Jones, a family service worker for the Department, testified that appellant never attended parenting classes, stating that she did not need them. Jones also testified that appellant occasionally became hostile and on one occasion refused to accompany Jones to visit J. L. Jones also offered to drive appellant to her drug screens, but appellant refused.

Cassandra Tolbert, appellant’s cousin, testified that she and appellant smoked marijuana together.

Steve Butler, a placement care worker for the Department, described appellant as “one of the most hostile clients [he’s] ever worked with.” Butler testified that appellant refused to sign the case plan presented to her by Underwood in December 2003, and did not attend a meeting on January 15,2004, to discuss the 30-day case plan developed by Butler. At a visit on December 30, 2003, appellant told Butler to “get the hell out of her yard” and argued with him about transportation to New Focus and visits with J. L. Appellant told Butler that she stopped going to New Focus because the courtesy van stopped picking her up. After verifying that the van was coming to [228]*228appellant’s home, Butler urged appellant to return to counseling. According to Butler, appellant also missed two of three scheduled visits with J. L. Butler further testified that appellant’s other child is being raised by his maternal grandfather and that the Department plans to consider relative placement with J. L.’s biological father, maternal grandfather, and paternal grandmother.

Caroline Rich, a driver for Fair Transport, the bus service that provided transportation for appellant to New Focus, testified that on December 5, 2003, appellant told her that J. L. had been removed from her custody so she had no reason to go to New Focus. Rich testified that she continued to make trips out to appellant’s home every weekday, and that on two occasions, appellant signed the trip log but refused transportation to New Focus. Subsequently, Rich would go to appellant’s home, but appellant would not come to the door. Rich testified that this continued until January 26, 2004.

The Department filed a petition for temporary custody on January 15, 2004, alleging that appellant failed to attend drug treatment, tested positive for cocaine and marijuana, and admitted that she continues to use drugs, all of which affect her ability to properly care for J. L. A hearing on that petition was held on January 27, 2004. At the close of the Department’s evidence, appellant moved for a directed verdict, arguing that there was no evidence that appellant’s drug use has affected J. L. or resulted in his deprivation. The juvenile court denied appellant’s motion and on February 18,2004, entered an order finding J. L. deprived and awarding temporary custody to the Department. The court concluded that, “[t]he reason[s] [J. L.] cannot be adequately and safely protected at home are: [appellant’s] continued substance abuse and [refusal] to attend substance abuse treatment.” This appeal followed.

1. In two related enumerations, appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, arguing that there is no clear and convincing evidence that J. L. is deprived. A deprived child is a child who is “without proper parental care or control, subsistence, education as required by law, or other care or control necessary for the child’s physical, mental, or emotional health or morals.”2 “The petition is brought on behalf of the child and it is the child’s welfare and not who is responsible for the conditions which amount to deprivation that is the issue.”3 Deprivation must be shown by clear and convincing evidence.4

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Bluebook (online)
603 S.E.2d 742, 269 Ga. App. 226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-j-l-gactapp-2004.