People ex rel. J.C.S.

169 P.3d 240, 2007 Colo. App. LEXIS 1308, 2007 WL 2003096
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 12, 2007
DocketNo. 06CA1868
StatusPublished
Cited by193 cases

This text of 169 P.3d 240 (People ex rel. J.C.S.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People ex rel. J.C.S., 169 P.3d 240, 2007 Colo. App. LEXIS 1308, 2007 WL 2003096 (Colo. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinions

Opinion by

Judge WEBB.

In this dependency and neglect proceeding, C.C. (mother) appeals from the denial, of her motion to set aside the adjudicatory order and the subsequent judgment terminating the parent-child legal relationship with her child, J.C.S. She contends only that the statute authorizing service by a single publication- § 19-3-508(8)(b), C.R.8.2006-is unconstitutional on its face and as applied, because it did not provide her with actual notice of her legal rights before the child was adjudicated.

The trial court rejected these contentions, finding that mother "deliberately concealed herself" from law enforcement and the court. Based on this finding, which encompasses the four months between service by publication and the adjudication that she asks us to consider in assessing lack of actual notice, we conclude that she lacks standing to challenge the statute's constitutionality because her claimed injury was self-inflicted. Therefore, we dismiss the appeal.

L. Facts

On March 29, 2004, the Huerfano County Department of Social Services (department) received a referral indicating mother was using drugs and alcohol, leaving J.C.S. with various people, and failing to take him to speech therapy. Two days later, mother was arrested for auto theft and was taken to the Las Animas County Jail in Trinidad. After [242]*242several weeks there, she was transferred to the Pueblo County Jail, where she remained until she was released on June 10, 2004.

A caseworker in the department located mother in the Trinidad jail and together they developed a safety plan, which provided that (1) J.C.S. would be placed in foster care if an appropriate kinship home could not be found; (2) upon release from incarceration, mother would obtain stable housing and income and participate in a substance abuse evaluation, follow its recommendations, and remain substance free; and (8) a dependency and neglect proceeding would be filed if mother failed to establish a safe and stable home within ninety days.

Four days after mother was released from jail on June 10, she telephoned the caseworker, indicated her interest in starting drug and alcohol treatment, and asked to see her son. The caseworker advised mother that her signature was needed to authorize medical evaluations of J.C.S. Mother gave the caseworker a temporary phone number, explained that she did not have a place to live, and said that she would contact the caseworker as soon as her situation became more stable.

Because the caseworker was unable to contact mother at the temporary number, the department scheduled a shelter hearing for June 80, 2004. On June 28, 2004, mother called the caseworker and left a message. On the day of the shelter hearing, mother again called the caseworker, who advised her that the department was seeking temporary legal custody at a shelter hearing to take place that day. When mother replied that she could not find transportation to the hearing, the caseworker encouraged her to attend by telephone. The caseworker also set up an appointment with mother for July 7 to sign papers authorizing medical evaluations.

Mother failed to appear at or call in to the hearing. She did not meet the caseworker on July 7.

A petition in dependency and neglect was filed on July 8, 2004. The court authorized serving mother by publication, finding that her "whereabouts are currently unknown." On August 5, a summons was published in a Huerfano County newspaper with a return of service of August 25.

When mother did not appear in court on the return date, the court found her in default. She later testified at the termination hearing that after her release from the Pueblo County Jail, she had secreted herself from authorities for fear of further incarceration on an outstanding probation violation. On November 2, 2004, the court adjudicated J.C.S. dependent or neglected based on mother's default.

During 2005, mother was in and out of the Pueblo County Jail. In April 2005, mother wrote to the caseworker stating that she was in jail but would be released soon and expressing an interest in regaining custody of J.C.S. In response, the department sent her a letter notifying her of an upcoming review of J.C.S.'s foster placement and asking that she complete a questionnaire. Mother did not appear in person or by telephone at that review, but she did return the questionnaire.

On January 10, 2006, the department filed a motion for termination of the parent-child legal relationship, and, on February 27, 2006, the court authorized notice by publication of the termination hearing pursuant to § 19-3-602(2), C.R.8.2006.

Mother was again arrested on March 10, 2006, and remained in the Pueblo County Jail until July 25, 2006. However, on April 20, 2006, the county attorney filed a motion to transport mother from the jail to the May 3 termination hearing, which was her first appearance in these proceedings. Mother was then advised of her legal rights, she requested an attorney, and one was appointed for her. The court rescheduled the hearing for August 1, to allow mother to confer with her counsel.

Her attorney filed a motion to set aside the order of adjudication and dismiss the petition for termination of parental rights on the basis that § 19-8-508(8)(b) was unconstitutional, on its face and as applied. The as applied argument asserted that "the department knew that mother was in the Pueblo area [because] she had been incarcerated in Pueblo, [and] she told the department that she sought shelter upon release." The court [243]*243deferred ruling on mother's constitutional challenge and combined a hearing on the motion with the termination hearing.

Mother failed to appear on August 1, and the court continued the hearing to August 28. At that time, the court heard testimony from mother and the caseworker, as well as argument from counsel on mother's due process claim. Mother described the adjudicatory hearing as "the watershed in parents, child and family rights," and presented a chronology of events during 2004 in her written motion. However, the chronology does not identify any location where she could have been found and served between her release from Pueblo County Jail in June and the adjudication in November. She did not assert in the motion or at the hearing that the department should have provided her notice after the adjudication, although it knew of her reinearceration in the Pueblo County Jail during 2005.

The court held the statute constitutional on its face and as applied, and made findings from the bench, including:

I find the department exercised due dili-genee trying to locate her whereabouts by contacting last known address, family members, even going so far as to contact the jail, trying to arrange for calls, asking for follow ups, and her failure to appear for those. [sic]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
169 P.3d 240, 2007 Colo. App. LEXIS 1308, 2007 WL 2003096, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-jcs-coloctapp-2007.