In the Matter the of the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of B.C., K.C., and M.C (Minor Children) and R.C.(Father) and K.R. (Mother) v. The Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)

Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided September 18, 2020·No. 20A-JT-568·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 Sep 18 2020, 10:04 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 R.C. ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE (FATHER) Curtis T. Hill, Jr. Zachary J. Stock Attorney General of Indiana Carmel, Indiana Abigail R. Recker

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT K.R. Deputy Attorney General (MOTHER) Indianapolis, Indiana Lisa D. Manning Danville, Indiana

IN THE

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

In the Matter the of the September 18, 2020 Termination of the Parent-Child Court of Appeals Case No. Relationship of B.C., K.C., and 20A-JT-568 M.C. (Minor Children) and R.C. Appeal from the Vigo Circuit (Father) and K.R. (Mother); Court The Honorable Sarah Mullican, R.C. (Father) and K.R. Judge (Mother), Trial Court Cause No.

84C01-1907-JT-863

Appellants-Respondents, 84C01-1907-JT-864

84C01-1907-JT-865

v.

The Indiana Department of Child Services,

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 20A-JT-568 | September 18, 2020 Page 1 of 19

Appellee-Petitioner

May, Judge.

[1] R.C. (“Father”) and K.R. (“Mother”) (collectively, “Parents”) appeal the termination of their parental rights to B.C., K.C., and M.C. (collectively, “Children”). Parents argue the trial court’s findings do not support its conclusions that the conditions under which Children were removed from Parents’ care would not be remedied, that the continuation of the Parent- Children relationship poses a threat to Children’s well-being, and that termination was in Children’s best interests. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History [2] Mother and Father are the biological parents of B.C., born July 27, 2010; K.C.,

born June 22, 2015; and M.C., born January 31, 2017. On January 31, 2017, the Department of Child Services (“DCS”) received a report that Mother had tested positive for opiates and marijuana at the time of M.C.’s birth. Mother admitted to the Family Case Manager (“FCM”) investigating the report that she had taken Vicodin without a prescription and smoked marijuana while pregnant. The FCM recommended the family engage in an informal adjustment program to address Mother’s substance abuse issues. Father also admitted smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol. He indicated he would stop smoking marijuana, but refused to stop drinking alcohol because he “didn’t

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 20A-JT-568 | September 18, 2020 Page 2 of 19 understand why DCS was recommending any treatment at all.” (Tr. Vol. II at 36.)

[3] Shortly thereafter, Parents moved into a hotel room and later moved to maternal grandmother’s house. Father continued to refuse to comply with the terms of the informal adjustment, and Mother tested positive for methamphetamine and THC. The FCM visited maternal grandmother’s home and found maternal grandmother asleep on an air mattress in the living room with newborn M.C. face down on her chest. The FCM asked maternal grandmother to take a drug test, and maternal grandmother refused. DCS recommended additional services to “preserve placement in the home” because of the “continued concerns of [Mother’s] substance abuse, her being in denial of using methamphetamine, um, inappropriate care givers, overall lack of compliance and [sic] services and treatment [and] [Father’s] refusal to stop drinking or using marijuana[.]” (Id. at 37.)

[4] On February 17, 2017, DCS filed petitions alleging Children were Children in Need of Services (“CHINS”) based upon Parents’ inability to provide Children with a drug free home and Mother’s positive drug tests. Children continued in placement with Parents. On March 14, 2017, the trial court held an initial hearing on the CHINS petition as to B.C., 1 during which Mother admitted to

1 The initial CHINS proceedings involving B.C. were separate from those involving K.C. and M.C. because, while Father was listed as B.C.’s legal father, another man, R.B., was alleged to possibly be B.C.’s father. Father later established paternity in the CHINS matter.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 20A-JT-568 | September 18, 2020 Page 3 of 19 using drugs in the home. On April 11, 2017, the trial court held an initial hearing on B.C.’s CHINS petition as to Father, during which Father appeared telephonically and admitted B.C. was a CHINS. Based on Parents’ admissions, B.C. was adjudicated a CHINS on May 11, 2017.

[5] On April 11, 2017, the trial court also held an initial hearing as to the CHINS petition for K.C. and M.C., which was continued to April 21, 2017, because Parents were not present. On April 19, 2017, DCS removed Children from Parents’ care based on Parents’ continued drug use. Children were placed in relative care.

[6] On April 21, 2017, the trial court held a continued initial hearing as to K.C. and M.C. during which it noted Mother’s admission of drug use in the home during the initial hearing as to B.C. Father denied the allegations of the CHINS petition, and thus the trial court set the matter for a fact-finding hearing. On May 9, 2017, the trial court held a fact-finding hearing as to K.C. and M.C. and adjudicated K.C. and M.C. as CHINS by its order on May 11, 2017. On May 9, 2017, the trial court also held a dispositional hearing as to B.C. and issued its dispositional decree as to B.C. on June 12, 2017. The trial court held its dispositional hearing as to K.C. and M.C. on June 6, 2017, and entered its dispositional decree as to K.C. and M.C. on July 6, 2017.

[7] Both dispositional decrees ordered Parents to refrain from the use of drugs and alcohol; submit to random drug screens; complete parenting assessments and all recommended services; complete substance abuse assessments and all

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 20A-JT-568 | September 18, 2020 Page 4 of 19 recommended treatment; participate in home based case management services; and complete psychological exams and all recommended treatment. The trial court also ordered Father to participate in fatherhood engagement services. At the beginning of the CHINS case, Parents consistently participated in services. Parents both attended and completed a fourteen-week drug rehabilitation program. Father earned his GED and became a journeyman carpenter with the local union.

[8] Based on Parents’ progress in services, DCS recommended and the trial court approved a trial home visit on August 25, 2018. The family was living with Paternal Grandfather. In November 2018, Mother moved in with Maternal Grandmother and shortly thereafter tested positive for methamphetamine, amphetamine, and THC. Father tested positive for THC on November 28, 2018. DCS put a safety plan in place allowing Father to go to Maternal Grandmother’s house when Children were present to be the sober caregiver there and offered Mother additional services to help address her substance abuse issues.

[9] On January 28, 2019, DCS filed a motion to extend the trial home visit another three months so the family could receive more services and work toward reunification. Parents continued to test positive for THC. In February 2019, DCS referred Parents to homebased case management through the Hamilton Center with goals of establishing a budget, finding housing, and completing substance abuse treatment. Father attended one of the thirty-two sessions and Mother attended sixteen of the thirty-two sessions. Father claimed he did not Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 20A-JT-568 | September 18, 2020 Page 5 of 19 attend sessions because he was working. During a home visit by the Hamilton Center counselor, Mother admitted she had not been going to the methadone clinic as directed in her substance abuse treatment and sometimes she “was not able to eat because she was high.” (Id. at 127.) Parents’ services through Hamilton Center were closed due to noncompliance in May 2019.

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In the Matter the of the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of B.C., K.C., and M.C (Minor Children) and R.C.(Father) and K.R. (Mother) v. The Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.), (Ind. Ct. App. 2020).

In the Matter the of the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of B.C., K.C., and M.C (Minor Children) and R.C.(Father) and K.R. (Mother) v. The Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.) (In the Matter the of the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of B.C., K.C., and M.C (Minor Children) and R.C.(Father) and K.R. (Mother) v. The Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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