In the Matter of the Termination of Parental Rights of: F.J., C.O., J.O., & M.O., (Children), and, M.O., (Mother) v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)

Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided May 25, 2018·No. 17A-JT-3036·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED

regarded as precedent or cited before any May 25 2018, 9:11 am

court except for the purpose of establishing CLERK Indiana Supreme Court

the defense of res judicata, collateral Court of Appeals and Tax Court

estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Deidre L. Monroe Curtis T. Hill, Jr. Gary, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana

Robert J. Henke

Deputy Attorney General

Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

In the Matter of the Termination May 25, 2018 of Parental Rights of: Court of Appeals Case No.

17A-JT-3036

F.J., C.O., J.O., & M.O., Appeal from the Lake Superior (Children), Court The Honorable Thomas P.

and, Stefaniak, Jr., Judge Trial Court Cause No.

M.O., (Mother), 45D06-1512-JT-273 45D06-1512-JT-275

Appellant-Respondent, 45D06-1512-JT-276 45D06-1703-JT-70

v.

Indiana Department of Child Services,

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 17A-JT-3036 | May 25, 2018 Page 1 of 18

Appellee-Petitioner.

Barnes, Judge.

Case Summary

[1] Me.O. (“Mother”) appeals the trial court’s termination of her parental rights to

her children, F.J., C.O., J.O., and M.O. (“Children”). We affirm.

Issue

[2] Mother raises one issue, which we restate as whether the evidence is sufficient

to support the termination of her parental rights.

Facts

[3] Mother has five children: J.J., who was born in January 2000;1 F.J., who was

born in August 2003; J.O., who was born in July 2008; C.O., who was born in March 2011; and M.O., who was born during these proceedings in December

1 J.J. is not involved in these termination proceedings because she was placed in another planned permanent living arrangement.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 17A-JT-3036 | May 25, 2018 Page 2 of 18 2014. L.C. is the father of J.J. and F.J., and B.O. (“Father”) is the father of J.O., C.O., and M.O.2

[4] On June 27, 2013, Mother and the Children were moving from North Carolina to Illinois when Mother was stopped in Indiana for speeding in a work zone and weaving in and out of traffic. The officer discovered that Mother was impaired, she failed field sobriety tests, and blood testing revealed the presence of clonazepam, Tramadol, and marijuana in her system. Mother admitted to officers that she had taken clonazepam and Tramadol that morning, that she had taken Dexilant and Lamotrigine the night before, and that she had smoked marijuana or K2/spice the night before. Although Mother had been prescribed the Clonazepam, Tramadol, Dexilant and Lamotrigine, the side effects of the medications include dizziness and drowsiness. Mother was arrested and charged with four counts of operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person with a passenger less than eighteen years of age, one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person, work zone speeding with workers present, and failure to signal for turn or lane change. She ultimately pled guilty and received probation, but she violated her probation and had to serve three months in jail.

[5] Because Mother was arrested and there was no one else to care for the Children, the Boone County Office of the Department of Child Services

2 L.C.’s parental rights were also terminated, but he does not appeal. Father died during these proceedings.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 17A-JT-3036 | May 25, 2018 Page 3 of 18

(“DCS”) took the Children into custody. DCS discovered that Mother had a prior history with the Division of Social Services in North Carolina for marijuana use and the conditions of her home. The North Carolina Division of Social Services requested that DCS continue to care for the Children until a “UCCJA Conference could be held.” Ex. Vol. I p. 23. DCS filed a petition alleging that the Children were children in need of services (“CHINS”). After a hearing, the trial court entered findings of fact and conclusions thereon determining that the Children were CHINS. The trial court ordered Mother in part to refrain from using illegal drugs, take prescription medications only as prescribed, engage in home-based counseling, maintain suitable housing and employment, complete a substance abuse assessment and follow all recommendations, submit to random drug screens, attend visitations with the Children, and refrain from committing any acts of domestic violence. Over the next year, Mother struggled to comply with the trial court’s order. She frequently cancelled visitations, tested positive for hydrocodone, failed to complete psychiatric and psychological evaluations and a domestic violence assessment, failed to participate consistently with individual therapy, threatened service providers, and was homeless. According to Mother, she has previously been diagnosed with “bipolar, anxiety disorder, stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, axis 1, 2, and 3” and post-traumatic stress disorder. Tr. Vol. II p. 31.

[6] M.O. was born in December 2014 and remained in Mother’s care. In mid- 2015, Mother and Father were living in Gary, and visits with the Children

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 17A-JT-3036 | May 25, 2018 Page 4 of 18 started increasing to unsupervised visits in their home and overnight weekend visits. During one of the weekend visits in September 2015, Father became intoxicated, and there was a domestic violence incident. When the police and DCS arrived at the house, Mother was “antagonizing” Father and “calling him names and yelling and cursing.” Id. at 108. The Children were upset, crying, and trying to calm Mother down. Mother “appeared to be not on her medication,” could not calm down, and could not parent the Children. Id. at 111. DCS took the four older children back to their foster home and removed M.O. from Mother’s care at that time. The following day Mother was arrested for driving with a suspended license and was placed on house arrest. DCS then filed a petition alleging that M.O. was a CHINS, which the trial court granted.

[7] Mother tested positive for synthetic marijuana in December 2015, violated her probation as a result, and had to serve jail time. Mother was also evicted from her home at that time. Mother and Father were involved in another domestic violence incident in January 2016. In February 2016, DCS filed a motion to suspend visitation between Mother and the Children. DCS reported that Mother was incoherent at a supervised visitation and a therapy session and that visits were detrimental to C.O. and F.J. DCS requested that Mother be ordered to complete an in-patient detox program. Service providers were concerned that Mother was “doctor hopping,” and she was attempting to refill prescriptions prior to the refill date. Ex. Vol. II p. 7. Visits with the older Children were suspended in March 2016.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 17A-JT-3036 | May 25, 2018 Page 5 of 18

[8] In May 2016, Mother’s drug screens indicated that she was not taking her prescription medications for her mental health issues. Mother also tested positive for barbiturates and benzodiazepines, for which she did not have a prescription, alcohol, and an opiate. DCS noted that Mother had a prescription for oxycodone but, during a pill count on May 19, 2016, Mother “only had 16 pills left out of 60 pills and she got the prescription filled on May 17, 2016.” Id. at 74.

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In the Matter of the Termination of Parental Rights of: F.J., C.O., J.O., & M.O., (Children), and, M.O., (Mother) v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.), (Ind. Ct. App. 2018).

In the Matter of the Termination of Parental Rights of: F.J., C.O., J.O., & M.O., (Children), and, M.O., (Mother) v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.) (In the Matter of the Termination of Parental Rights of: F.J., C.O., J.O., & M.O., (Children), and, M.O., (Mother) v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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