In the Matter of the Parental Rights to: A.L.O.

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJune 11, 2019
Docket35866-6
StatusUnpublished

This text of In the Matter of the Parental Rights to: A.L.O. (In the Matter of the Parental Rights to: A.L.O.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In the Matter of the Parental Rights to: A.L.O., (Wash. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

FILED JUNE 11, 2019 In the Office of the Clerk of Court WA State Court of Appeals, Division III

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION THREE

IN THE MATTER OF THE PARENTAL ) RIGHTS TO A.L.O. ) No. 35866-6-III ) (consolidated with ) No. 35885-2-III) ) IN THE MATTER OF THE PARENTAL ) UNPUBLISHED OPINION RIGHTS TO A.M.O. )

FEARING, J. — Cindy O’Casey appeals the trial court’s termination of her parental

rights to her two children. We affirm.

FACTS

Cindy O’Casey bore two children, Jared and Joyce. The elder child, Joyce, was

born January 18, 2007. Jared was born a year later on March 18, 2008. The children’s

biological father is Strom O’Casey. All names are pseudonyms.

The Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) removed Joyce and Jared

from the care of Cindy and Strom O’Casey in December 2015 and placed the children in

shelter care following allegations of methamphetamine use, domestic violence, and

homelessness. Before the removal, Joyce and Jared had resided with a paternal aunt for

two weeks, and DSHS had concerns about the aunt’s care. Immediately before the

children’s removal, Cindy O’Casey obtained a protection order to prevent Strom from No. 35866-6-III cons. w/35885-2-III In re Parental Rights to A.L.O. & A.M.O

contacting her or the children. Jared and Joyce were current on medical and dental care

when DSHS removed the two from their parents.

After removal of the children in December 2015, DSHS social worker Dawn

Schichtel spoke with Cindy O’Casey and recommended urinalysis and a parenting

assessment. Throughout December 2015 and January 2016, O’Casey provided five urine

samples. Four samples tested clean except for prescription medications. One sample

tested positive for opiates inconsistent with prescribed medications. O’Casey failed to

provide any urinalyses from the end of January 2016 through May 2016.

Cindy O’Casey completed a parenting assessment with Ashley Suter in January

2016. Suter recommended family therapy, visitation, and individual therapy for O’Casey

with a trauma-focused therapist, and a domestic violence victim program to teach

O’Casey boundaries to protect herself and her children.

On February 11, 2016, the trial court found the children dependent. The initial

disposition order and later review orders required Cindy O’Casey to submit for sixty days

of urinalyses and blood testing, undergo a chemical dependency evaluation, undergo a

parenting assessment, engage in family therapy, undergo individual counseling, and

submit to domestic violence prevention services. Presumably the earlier parenting

assessment sufficed for the order. The disposition orders also demanded that O’Casey

comply with all evaluator recommendations.

2 No. 35866-6-III cons. w/35885-2-III In re Parental Rights to A.L.O. & A.M.O

Cindy O’Casey attended one individual counseling session with Lacey Hurley in

April 2016. Hurley discharged O’Casey from services when O’Casey failed to attend her

next scheduled appointment. Between March and April 2016, O’Casey engaged in three

sessions of family therapy with the children. On May 11, 2016, therapist Renee Brecht

suspended family therapy because of O’Casey’s absence from three sessions and a report

of O’Casey’s use of illicit drugs. Brecht concluded that the brief therapy rendered no

progress. During the three appointments that O’Casey missed, Brecht noticed the

children were anxious and concerned. The two children refused to end the session and

return to their placements in case O’Casey arrived late. According to Brecht,

inconsistency exhibited by a parent decreases a child’s trust in the parent.

Cindy O’Casey participated in four supervised visits with Jared and Joyce in

September and October 2016. O’Casey missed other appointments or appeared late to

appointments. The visitation supervisor briefly discharged O’Casey from visitation

services because of O’Casey’s sporadic attendance. By December 2016, O’Casey had

not visited the children since the October 2016 visits.

On December 13, 2016, DSHS filed a petition to terminate Cindy O’Casey’s

parental rights.

After DSHS spoke with Joyce and Jared about adoption, Joyce developed

behavioral problems resulting from posttraumatic stress disorder. She has experienced

psychotic symptoms such as auditory, visual, and olfactory hallucinations, blackouts, and

3 No. 35866-6-III cons. w/35885-2-III In re Parental Rights to A.L.O. & A.M.O

has visits to a place she called “Mars.” Report of Proceedings (RP) at 261. Her

traumatic stress disorder led to a hospitalization in May 2017.

Jared suffers from anxiety. He experiences cognitive distortion, during which he

believes he is a “bad kid” and supposes the trauma he has suffered is his fault. RP at 366.

In February 2017, Cindy O’Casey participated in two family therapy sessions with

therapist Mary Anne Sacco. Sacco opined that, in order for O’Casey to benefit from

family therapy, O’Casey needed to first address her drug addiction.

Cindy O’Casey visited with the children on seventeen occasions from January

through March 2017. O’Casey completed a chemical dependency assessment in May

2017 and was referred to American Behavioral Health Systems for inpatient treatment.

O’Casey entered inpatient treatment on May 22, 2017. On May 25, 2017, O’Casey left

drug treatment to enter a mental health facility because she had threatened harm to

herself. O’Casey never returned to inpatient treatment and did not engage in any other

chemical dependency treatment.

In June 2017, Cindy O’Casey met with mental health therapist Amber Thomas for

an evaluation. O’Casey did not complete the evaluation. She left the evaluation early

and did not return to Thomas’ office. Thomas preliminarily diagnosed O’Casey with

depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Thomas likely would have recommended

weekly individual therapy for O’Casey. O’Casey attended a domestic violence victim’s

program in Oak Harbor during the summer months of 2017. In September 2017, she

4 No. 35866-6-III cons. w/35885-2-III In re Parental Rights to A.L.O. & A.M.O

participated in an intake appointment at the YWCA for domestic violence prevention

services.

After May 2016, Cindy O’Casey completed only one urinalysis on August 11,

2017. O’Casey tested negative for all substances. O’Casey missed numerous urine

submissions throughout the dependency.

From July 2017 through October 2017, Cindy O’Casey participated in family

therapy with Ashley Suter, the therapist with whom O’Casey completed a parenting

assessment. In October, Suter discharged O’Casey for Suter’s own medical reasons.

Family therapist Emily Steele assumed therapy responsibilities. O’Casey and the

children participated in four family therapy sessions with Steele until the parental

termination trial in November 2017.

Throughout the dependency, the trial court conducted five review hearings. At

each hearing, the dependency court found that O’Casey had made no progress toward

remedying her parental deficiencies. At the time of trial, Joyce and Jared resided together

in a foster home, their fifth foster home and sixth placement.

PROCEDURE

Strom O’Casey stipulated to the termination of his parental rights to Jared and

Joyce. A trial occurred in late November and early December 2017 on the petition to

terminate Cindy O’Casey’s parental rights.

5 No.

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