Oldham v. Arkansas Department of Human Services

2015 Ark. App. 490, 469 S.W.3d 825, 2015 Ark. App. LEXIS 558
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedSeptember 16, 2015
DocketCV-15-279
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2015 Ark. App. 490 (Oldham v. Arkansas Department of Human Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oldham v. Arkansas Department of Human Services, 2015 Ark. App. 490, 469 S.W.3d 825, 2015 Ark. App. LEXIS 558 (Ark. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

CLIFF HOOFMAN, Judge

|,Appellant Michelle Oldham appeals from the order of the Pulaski County Circuit Court terminating her parental rights to her two children, J.W. and J.O. On appeal, Oldham challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the termination. We affirm.

The facts giving rise to this case began on December 17, 2013, when fifteen-day-old J.O. was brought to the hospital with a skull fracture. When Oldham was informed that J.O. needed to be admitted, she began acting manic, shouting at the staff, and threatening to take her child home. Law enforcement was called, and Oldham was then arrested on an outstanding warrant for failure to pay a fine. The Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) was notified and filed a petition for emergency custody of J.W. and J.O., due to the lack of a legal caretaker for the children and concerns about Oldham’s mental status. According to the affidavit attached to the petition, Oldham explained that her unpaid fine was |2from when she was on probation for a domestic-violence conviction and that J.O. had received the skull fracture after one-year-old J.W. pulled J.O. off the bed. Oldham denied that she had a mental illness or that she was currently on any medication.

An order for emergency custody was entered by the circuit court on December 20, 2013, and a probable-cause order was entered on December 30, 2013. The circuit court ordered Oldham to obtain a psychological evaluation, a drug-and-alcohol assessment, a counseling assessment, and a medication-management assessment. The court further ordered random drug screens and twice-weekly supervised visitation, and Oldham was also required to complete parenting classes and to maintain stable housing, employment, and income.

The adjudication hearing was held on February 24, 2014, and the circuit court found that the children were dependent-neglected based on the allegations of parental unfitness contained in the emergency petition for custody. The court found that Oldham had not attended her scheduled drug-and-alcohol assessment and that she had failed to attend the first portion of her psychological evaluation because she claimed that it was too cold outside to ride the bus. Oldham was told not to come for the second scheduled portion of her evaluation because she had not yet completed the first part; however, Oldham showed up anyway and was then asked to leave after she threatened the staff. Her evaluation was reset for March 3. The court noted at the adjudication that Oldham was now homeless and staying in various motels. Oldham continued to deny that she had been diagnosed with a mental illness. The circuit court found that, although there had been a true finding for inadequate supervision against Oldham due to the circumstances surrounding J.O.’s skull fracture, the |s“bigger problem” was Old-ham’s untreated mental disease, which placed the children at risk. In addition, the court found that Oldham had no stable housing. The goal of the case was set as reunification with Oldham, and prior orders remained in place, with the court emphasizing that Oldham was to undergo the psychological evaluation as scheduled, to follow through with her individual therapy, and to become stable so that she did not have to rely on others for assistance.

Oldham failed to attend her next scheduled psychological evaluation and was eventually seen by Dr. Paul Deyoub on April 8, 2014. A report from the evaluation was introduced at the May 2014 review hearing. Dr. Deyoub diagnosed Oldham with “Bipolar Disorder, Manic, Severe” and “Child Neglect, Possibly Abuse.” He stated that Oldham had a long history of mental illness and “absolutely no insight” into her condition. He further stated that there was no way the children could be returned to Oldham’s custody unless she had a significant period of remission. Dr. Deyoub stated that Oldham needed to see a psychiatrist, be compliant with her medication, obtain stable housing and sufficient income to support the children, and attend anger-management and parenting classes. While he did recommend therapeutic services, Dr. Deyoub indicated that Oldham’s mental illness was so chronic that he did not see how the children could be safely returned.

Based on the evidence presented at the review hearing, the circuit court found that Oldham had not been compliant with the case plan. Oldham was living with a friend and had not obtained a stable home; she was unemployed and typically spent all of her disability income by the second week of each month; she had been released from therapy for lack of 14attendance; she had failed to attend an appointment for a medication assessment; visitations with the children had not gone well due to Oldham’s behavior and were being reduced to once per week; and she continued to deny having bipolar disorder and refused to take medication for it. The court found that Oldham’s lack of insight demonstrated no desire on her part to get ■better. With regard to Oldham’s homelessness, the court noted that the places she stayed were not even safe for her, much less her children. The court authorized the attorney ad litem to file a termination petition, although DHS was ordered to continue providing services to Oldham.

A joint petition.to terminate Oldham’s parental rights was filed by DHS and the attorney ad litem on September 30, 2014, alleging the “other factors” ground for termination contained in Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-341(b)(3)(B)(vii) (Supp. 2013). The petition also alleged that termination was in the children’s best interest.

The joint permanency planning/termination hearing was held oh November 19, 2014. At the hearing, Dr. Deyoub testified about Oldham’s history of mental illness. Based on her lack of insight and refusal to take medication, Oldham had not responded positively to treatment in the past, and Dr. Deyoub indicated that she had a very poor prognosis going forward. He explained that Oldham’s diagnostic tests demonstrated significant schizophrenic and paranoia elevations, leading to many of the same problems with thinking and reasoning ability that schizophrenics experience. According to Dr. Deyoub, Oldham also scored in the, significant range on the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAP) test. Dr. Deyoub opined that J.W. and J.O. would not be safe in Oldham’s care unless there was evidence that ■ she was IfiCompIying with treatment and free of symptoms for a significant period of time.

Samantha Parsons, the DHS caseworker assigned to the family, testified that the services offered- to Oldham included parenting classes, random drug screening, a psychological evaluation, individual therapy, anger management, bus- passes, visitation, and case management. Parsons indicated that Oldham was in partial compliance with the case plan, as she had participated in all of these services but had not obtained stable housing or employment as ordered by the circuit court. In addition, Parsons testified that, even tho,ugh-,■ Oldham had undergone parenting classes and anger-management therapy, she still had issues with anger and with making appropriate parenting decisions, which Parsons had witnessed during visitation. Parsons stated that she had attempted to assist Oldham with budgeting issues; however, Oldham was still unable to support herself with her $721 in monthly disability income, all of which was usually spent in the first few days of each ■ month. Parsons testified that DHS was recommending termination of Oldham’s parental rights due to her mental issues, unstable housing, and unemployment.

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Bluebook (online)
2015 Ark. App. 490, 469 S.W.3d 825, 2015 Ark. App. LEXIS 558, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oldham-v-arkansas-department-of-human-services-arkctapp-2015.