Ramsey v. Arkansas Department of Human Services

377 S.W.3d 399, 2010 Ark. App. 344, 2010 WL 1610968, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 354
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedApril 21, 2010
DocketNo. CA 09-1365
StatusPublished

This text of 377 S.W.3d 399 (Ramsey 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
Ramsey v. Arkansas Department of Human Services, 377 S.W.3d 399, 2010 Ark. App. 344, 2010 WL 1610968, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 354 (Ark. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

M. MICHAEL KINARD, Judge.

_JjIn this appeal, Jennifer Ramsey challenges the Garland County Circuit Court’s order terminating her parental rights to her child M.H., born September 16, 2007. We affirm.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) exercised a seventy-two-hour hold on M.H. on September 18, 2007, after appellant and M.H. tested positive for cocaine at the time of M.H.’s birth. The circuit court entered an order for emergency custody on September 24, 2007, finding that immediate removal of the juvenile from her parents’ custody was necessary to protect her health and safety.1 The court entered a probable cause order on September 27, 2007. Among other things, the court ordered that appellant |2be placed at Potter’s Clay, a crisis shelter for women and children, and that appellant comply with all rules of the facility.

By consent order filed October 17, 2007, the court ordered M.H. placed with appellant at Potter’s Clay. By an order filed December 14, 2007, the court noted that DHS had placed a seventy-two-hour hold on M.H. on December 9, after appellant was discharged from Potter’s Clay for using drugs in her room, and found it to be contrary to M.H.’s welfare to return her to the custody of appellant.

A review hearing was held on February 27, 2008, at which time the court found that it was contrary to the welfare of M.H. to return custody to appellant. Reunification was continued as the goal of the case. The court found that appellant had not complied with the case plan and court orders. Appellant was ordered to follow all court orders and the DHS case plan; cooperate with the DCFS caseworker; attend every scheduled court hearing; prove, maintain, and obtain stable housing and stable employment; submit to random drug testing on the day of request; remain clean and sober at all times; complete parenting classes; work toward completing a GED; contact DCFS caseworker on a weekly basis; complete inpatient treatment (with DHS to pay for costs of inpatient treatment if no other payment source exists); attend NA meetings daily and obtain a sponsor until admitted to inpatient treatment; complete additional parenting classes; and prove all the above to the court, DCFS caseworker, and attorney ad litem. The court found that appellant abandoned M.H. in that she failed to follow the case plan and showed up for the hearing forty minutes late; failed to remain clean and sober; failed her drug screen on the Isday of the hearing; had not maintained stable housing or employment; failed to contact her DHS caseworker on a weekly basis as ordered, and in fact had not had contact with the caseworker in at least one month; and currently faced felony charges for residential burglary and weapons possession.

A review/permanency planning hearing was held on May 14, 2008. The court continued custody of M.H. with DHS, finding that return to appellant’s custody was contrary to M.H.’s welfare. The court continued the goal of the case as reunification “only because the mother has begun to comply with the case plan and the Court’s orders.” Appellant was again ordered to follow all court orders and the DHS case plan; cooperate with the DCFS caseworker; attend every scheduled court hearing; prove, maintain, and obtain stable housing and stable employment; submit to random drug testing on day of request; remain clean and sober at all times; complete parenting classes, including hands-on parenting; work toward completing a GED; contact the DCFS caseworker on a weekly basis; and complete inpatient treatment (with DHS to pay for costs of inpatient treatment if no other payment source exists). The court noted that appellant was in inpatient treatment at the time.

By consent order filed June 25, 2008, the court granted appellant unsupervised weekend visitation as long as she continued to receive treatment at her current treatment facility. On August 6, 2008, the court filed a review order in which it found that return of M.H. to appellant’s custody was no longer contrary to the juvenile’s welfare as long as appellant remained in and completed her current inpatient treatment. If appellant left her 14 current treatment facility before completing the program or failed to follow her after-care plan, M.H. would immediately be returned to the custody of DHS. The court found that appellant had complied with the case plan and court orders, and it continued prior orders not in conflict with the review order. On December 3, 2008, the court found that appellant had complied with the court’s orders and the case plan, stated that permanent custody with appellant was not contrary to M.H.’s welfare, and closed the case.

The court reopened the case on April 14, 2009, when it found probable cause to believe M.H. was dependent-neglected and removed her from her father’s custody. DHS filed a petition for emergency custody and dependency-neglect on April 16. This petition was based upon appellant’s incarceration and there being no appropriate caregiver for M.H. The court filed an order for emergency custody on April 20, placing custody of M.H. back with DHS. In its adjudication and disposition order filed June 19, 2009, the court found that appellant was arrested and incarcerated for violation of the terms of her drug court, and the juvenile had no appropriate caregiver at the time of the arrest and incarceration. The court ordered M.H. to remain in DHS custody. Additionally, appellant was ordered, among other things, to obtain and maintain stable housing and employment for a period of at least six months. An August 27, 2009 permanency-planning order changed the goal of the case to termination of parental rights and adoption. The court found that appellant had not complied with the case plan and the orders of the court.

|fiOn September 2, 2009, DHS filed a petition for termination of appellant’s parental rights on the following grounds: the juvenile has been adjudicated dependent-neglected and has continued out of the custody of appellant for twelve months and, despite a meaningful effort by DHS to rehabilitate appellant and correct the conditions that caused removal, those conditions have not been remedied by appellant (Ark.Code Ann. § 9-27-341(b)(3)(B)(i) (Repl.2009)); the juvenile has lived outside the home for a period of twelve months and appellant has willfully failed to provide significant material support in accordance with appellant’s means or to maintain meaningful contact with the juvenile (Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-341(b)(3)(B)(ii)); appellant was sentenced in a criminal proceeding for a period of time that would constitute a substantial period of the juvenile’s life (Ark.Code Ann. § 9-27-341(b)(3)(B)(viii)); that other factors or issues arose subsequent to the filing of the original petition for dependency-neglect that demonstrate that return of the juvenile to the custody of appellant is contrary to the juvenile’s health, safety, or welfare and that, despite the offer of appropriate family services, appellant has manifested the incapacity or indifference to remedy the subsequent issues or factors that prevent return of the juvenile to her custody (Ark.Code Ann. § 9-27-341(b)(3)(B)(vii)).

At the termination hearing, an employee of Potter’s Clay, Patricia Jones, testified regarding appellant’s time there. Jones testified that appellant first came to Potter’s Clay in September 2007 and did very well, but left in December of that year because she used drugs in a room where children were present. Jones and another employee called DHS, which removed M.H.

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Bluebook (online)
377 S.W.3d 399, 2010 Ark. App. 344, 2010 WL 1610968, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 354, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ramsey-v-arkansas-department-of-human-services-arkctapp-2010.