In the Interest of L. B.

735 S.E.2d 162, 319 Ga. App. 173
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedNovember 30, 2012
DocketA12A1567
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 735 S.E.2d 162 (In the Interest of L. B.) 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 L. B., 735 S.E.2d 162, 319 Ga. App. 173 (Ga. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

Ray, Judge.

L. B.’s mother appeals from an order issued by the Douglas County Juvenile Court granting permanent guardianship of her son, L. B., to L. B.’s great-aunt. On appeal, the mother contends that there was no showing on the record that L. B. had been adjudicated deprived, and thus the juvenile court was without authority to appoint a permanent guardian for L. B. under OCGA § 15-11-30.1. [174]*174The mother also argues that the juvenile court was without authority to grant the permanent guardianship on the theory that OCGA § 15-11-30.1 requires that the child be placed in the custody of the Division of Family and Children Services (“DFCS”) prior to the appointment of a permanent guardian. We disagree and affirm.

Viewed in the proper light, the record shows that in 2009, DFCS became involved in L. B.’s welfare after he suffered a broken arm and a broken tooth. After the housing assistance the mother received through DFCS ended abruptly, L. B.’s mother asked his great-aunt to care for L. B. so that she could look for a job and an apartment. The great-aunt agreed, and petitioned the Douglas County Probate Court for temporary guardianship of L. B. Several months later, L. B.’s mother attempted to remove him from his great-aunt’s home, but the great-aunt did not allow her to do so and advised the probate court of the danger of removal. The probate court then transferred the case to the Douglas County Juvenile Court on January 4, 2010, and counsel was appointed to represent the mother. During a hearing, L. B.’s mother told the trial court that she did not wish to dissolve the temporary guardianship at that time.

A deprivation action was filed by the great-aunt on August 23, 2010, and was assigned a new case number in the juvenile court. Although the record from this action is not before us, in the order awarding permanent guardianship to the great-aunt, the juvenile court noted that an adjudicatory hearing was held on September 1, 2010, and a final order finding that L. B. was deprived was entered.

On September 16, 2011, L. B.’s great-aunt filed the present action petitioning the juvenile court for permanent guardianship. At the hearing, L. B.’s mother testified that she had little contact with her son in the past 18 months, that she had not completed the steps required in the case plan set up by the juvenile court in the deprivation action, that she had not submitted to drug tests sought by the court, and that she was living at a family member’s home. The guardian ad litem testified, and after expressing concern about the lack of contact between the child and his mother and her failure to complete her case plan or submit to drug screens, she recommended that the juvenile court award permanent guardianship to the great-aunt to assure stability in L. B.’s life. Finding that it was in the best interest of the child to remain in the care of his great-aunt, the juvenile court granted her petition for permanent guardianship of L. B. L. B.’s mother appeals.

l.OCGA § 15-11-30.1 requires that a childbe adjudicated deprived before a juvenile court has the jurisdiction to grant an award of [175]*175permanent guardianship over that child.1 L. B.’s mother contends that the juvenile court was without authority to award permanent guardianship to the great-aunt because although the juvenile court entered an order adjudicating L. B. deprived in an earlier case with a different case number, that order was not made part of the record in the current permanent guardianship proceeding.

Despite the absence of the juvenile court’s order adjudicating L. B. deprived in the present record, the juvenile court referenced the deprivation order in its order awarding permanent guardianship to the great-aunt.2 As a general matter, a juvenile court may take judicial notice of prior proceedings and orders in the same court if it indicates on the record that it is taking judicial notice of such prior orders and the parties do not object.3 In the present case, the juvenile court did not specifically inform the parties during the hearing or in its order that it was taking judicial notice of the prior deprivation order. However, L. B.’s mother gives us no reason to believe that any objection to taking judicial notice of the deprivation order in this case would have had any merit, nor does she identify specific evidence that she would have brought forward to challenge the earlier deprivation order.4 For this reason, L. B.’s mother cannot show that the taking of judicial notice is reversible error.5

2. L. B.’s mother contends that OCGA § 15-11-30.1 (a) (2) (A) requires a child to have been placed in DFCS custody before the juvenile court is vested with the jurisdiction to appoint a permanent [176]*176guardian for that child, and thus, the juvenile court erred in awarding permanent guardianship to L. B.’s great-aunt. For the reasons below, we disagree.

OCGA § 15-11-30.1 (a) (2) (A) provides that prior to any entry of an order appointing a permanent guardian, the juvenile court shall find, among other things, “that reasonable efforts to reunify the child with his or her parent would be detrimental to the child in accordance with subsection (h) of Code Section 15-11-58 or find that the living parents or parent of the child have consented to the permanent guardianship.”6 OCGA § 15-11-58 (h) provides that

[w]hen reviewing the determination by [DFCS] that a reunification plan is not appropriate, the court shall determine by clear and convincing evidence whether reasonable efforts to reunify a child with his or her family will be detrimental to the child and that reunification services, therefore, should not be provided or should be terminated. There shall be a presumption that reunification services should not be provided if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that:

(1) a parent unjustifiably failed to complete a previously ordered reunification plan, (2) the child had been removed from the home on at least two previous occasions, (3) any of the grounds for terminating parental rights set forth in OCGA § 15-11-94 (b) exist, or (4) if reasonable efforts to reunify are deemed unnecessary under OCGA § 15-11-58 (a) (4).7

L. B.’s mother argues that by referencing OCGA § 15-11-58 (h)’s “reasonable efforts” analysis, which applies only to those children in DFCS custody,8

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
735 S.E.2d 162, 319 Ga. App. 173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-l-b-gactapp-2012.