in the Interest of P.W., a Child

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided December 23, 2021·No. 02-21-00219-CV·Published

Opinion

In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________ No. 02-21-00219-CV ___________________________

IN THE INTEREST OF P.W., A CHILD

On Appeal from the 16th District Court Denton County, Texas Trial Court No. 19-5347-16

Before Bassel, Womack, and Wallach, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Wallach MEMORANDUM OPINION

In two issues, Appellant Mother appeals the trial court’s termination of her

parental rights to her daughter, P.W. She complains of the trial court’s admission of

certain photos as overly prejudicial and of its admission of certain orders and testimony

as improper judicial testimony. Because she has failed to preserve some of her

complaints and because other rulings were either not erroneous or not harmful, we

affirm the trial court’s order terminating her parental rights.

Background

Appellee the Department of Family and Protective Services (the Department)

received reports in 2019 of concerns about Mother’s drug use and the instability of her

living environment with P.W.1 It took investigator Latisha Walker about ten attempts

to finally reach Mother by phone in February and when she did reach Mother, it took

time for her to persuade Mother to meet in person to discuss the Department’s

concerns. They met in a hotel room where Mother and P.W. were living at the time—

throughout the proceedings, Mother lived in multiple hotels and never had a stable

apartment or home. Mother admitted to Walker that she had a history of marijuana and

1 This was not Mother’s first interaction with the Department. She was investigated in 2011 after her then-toddler son wandered out of their apartment while she was napping. She tested positive for cocaine use during that investigation, the son was removed from her care, and the Department concluded that she had been neglectful in supervising her son. At the time of trial in the instant proceeding, Mother had not seen her son in “a few years.”

2 cocaine use, but she claimed she had not used drugs since 2015. Walker requested that

Mother take a drug test and have P.W. tested for drugs, but Mother did not complete

any drug testing until she was court-ordered to do so in June 2019. At that time, Mother

tested positive for marijuana and cocaine usage, and P.W.’s results indicated that she

may have ingested cocaine. At that point, the Department petitioned for removal and

to terminate Mother’s parental rights; when Walker located Mother and P.W., they were

living in another hotel.

Mother was placed on a service plan with the goal of reuniting her and P.W.;

though she participated in some services, her Department caseworkers testified at trial

that her participation was largely inconsistent. She missed some visitation sessions with

P.W. One caseworker testified that she did not feel that Mother was honest and made

excuses that she was too busy to do the services, even when services were available

virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mother admitted at trial that she had not

made every effort to complete the service plan and that she could have made a better

effort.

At the time of the June 2021 trial, Mother had not visited P.W. since October

2020. And in addition to her unstable housing, Mother’s employment had changed “a

few times” and there were periods in which she was unemployed.

While she participated in some counseling sessions, Kelvin Smith, her counselor

of a year and a half, testified at trial that her attendance was “very inconsistent” and she

failed to show up to a few appointments. He testified that there were “several times”

3 when she was in danger of being discharged from the program due to nonattendance.

Smith concluded that because he had not had “enough consistent sessions with

[Mother] to know where she is emotionally [or] financially,” he did not think she was

ready to have P.W. returned to her.

Mother continued to use drugs while the proceedings were pending. She failed

drug tests and failed to comply with the Department’s requests for testing and with

court orders for drug testing. Mother admitted to her caseworkers and at trial to

relapsing with marijuana and cocaine during the proceedings. Mother’s visitation was

eventually suspended because of concerns regarding her continued positive drug tests;

even after that, Mother failed to comply with drug-testing requests and orders.

Mother’s drug use had resulted in criminal charges more than once, in addition

to her involvement in prostitution. In 2013, she was arrested in Louisiana in connection

with a prostitution-ring bust.2 Though she admitted at trial that she was charged with

“letting prostitution,” she alleged that it was not true and that she was visiting her son

at the time that a large prostitution ring was uncovered by police, resulting in her charge.

The Department presented her with a 2013 Waco newspaper article that mentioned her

in connection with the prostitution-ring sting, but Mother alleged that the article was

“false.” She could not remember the outcome of the charges. She was arrested in

2015 in another prostitution-ring sting operation, that time in El Paso, and she pleaded

Mother also admitted to pleading guilty to a 2007 theft charge. 2

4 guilty to the charges. In 2016, she was arrested for marijuana and cocaine possession

and evidence tampering 3 in Florida.

At trial, Mother dismissed her criminal history by saying that it was prior to her

having P.W. and that P.W. had “changed her life” and that she had not been in trouble

with drugs since P.W.’s birth in December 2017. But her reasoning was called into

question when evidence was admitted showing that she had been arrested for drug

possession in 2019. She pleaded guilty to the charge and was on probation for that

conviction at the time of the termination trial. She also admitted to relapsing in January

and April 2021.

In May 2021, shortly before the June 2021 trial, Mother was involved in an

altercation at a bar that resulted in her being shot in the face. When asked what would

happen with P.W. if Mother’s probation were revoked in connection with the May bar

fight and shooting, Mother said “she has family,” but she also admitted that she had

not discussed that possibility with any family.

The jury agreed with the Department’s recommendation to terminate Mother’s

parental rights and found that Mother had (1) knowingly placed or allowed P.W. to

remain in conditions or surroundings that endangered P.W.’s wellbeing, (2) engaged in

conduct or knowingly placed P.W. with persons engaging in conduct that endangered

3 A police report admitted into evidence at trial stated that Mother had attempted to swallow a baggie of cocaine during the arrest.

5 P.W.’s well-being, (3) constructively abandoned P.W., and (4) failed to comply with the

terms of the court-ordered service plan. See Tex. Fam. Code Ann. §§ 161.001(b)(1)(D),

(E), (N), (O). It also found that termination was in P.W.’s best interest. See id.

§ 161.001(b)(2). The trial court entered judgment accordingly, and this appeal followed.

Discussion

Mother does not challenge the evidentiary sufficiency supporting the jury’s

findings of any of the grounds for termination or their best-interest determination, but

instead complains of the trial court’s admission of two photos and certain prior court

orders and testimony.

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