Rice v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs. & Minor Children

2019 Ark. App. 141, 572 S.W.3d 907
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedFebruary 27, 2019
DocketNo. CV-18-887
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2019 Ark. App. 141 (Rice v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs. & Minor Children) 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
Rice v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs. & Minor Children, 2019 Ark. App. 141, 572 S.W.3d 907 (Ark. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

MIKE MURPHY, Judge

Appellant Alisha Rice appeals from the Garland County Circuit Court's termination of her parental rights to her two children, T.L. (DOB: 12/09/2010) and A.B. (DOB: 11/12/2015). Rice argues that there was insufficient evidence to support the termination.1 We affirm.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services ("the Department") exercised emergency custody of T.L. and A.B. on April 7, 2017, due to environmental neglect, educational neglect, and Rice's being under the influence of illegal drugs while in the presence of the juveniles. In an affidavit attached to the Department's petition for emergency custody, a family-service worker averred that the family had been the subject of a family-in-need-of-services case since February 27, 2017. A decision was made to remove the children from the custody of Rice on April 7 based on allegations that Rice was not meeting the children's needs, refused to allow the Department to have access to the children, and tested positive for several illegal substances. On April 10, the circuit court entered an ex parte order for emergency custody of T.L. and A.B.2

On April 13, the circuit court held a probable-cause hearing and found that probable cause existed for T.L. and A.B. to *909remain in the Department's custody. Rice, who was not present, was ordered among other things, to cooperate with the Department, submit to random drug screens, complete parenting classes, submit to counseling and a psychological evaluation, and submit to a drug-and-alcohol assessment.

On May 17, the circuit court held an adjudication-and-disposition hearing. There, it found that T.L. and A.B. were dependent-neglected based on neglect and parental unfitness due to environmental neglect and Rice's testing positive for multiple illegal substances while T.L. and A.B. were in her care, custody, and control. The circuit court also ordered that the goal in this case be reunification with a concurrent goal of permanent relative guardianship/custody and reiterated its orders from the probable-cause hearing to Rice.

The circuit court held two review hearings and at one, it found partial compliance by Rice and continued the goal of reunification.

On April 4, 2018, the circuit court held a permanency-planning hearing. It changed the goal to adoption and authorized the Department to file a petition to terminate Rice's parental rights. In support of this order, the circuit court found that Rice continued to have issues with her physical living conditions, that she continued to abuse illegal substances, and that she continued to demonstrate an inability to properly supervise the juveniles. The circuit court also found that Rice had not shown a genuine and sustainable effort toward complying with the case plan's requirements and found that the Department had made reasonable efforts. On May 4, the Department filed a petition to terminate Rice's parental rights based on the grounds of failure to remedy3 and aggravated circumstances.4

A termination hearing was held on August 1, 2018.5 Travis Bratton, the Department's family-service worker assigned to Rice's case, testified first. Bratton testified to Rice's noncompliance with the case plan and explained that the children had remained out of the custody of the mother for fifteen months. He explained that she had been in the same one-bedroom, one-bathroom trailer since this case began and that she had not fully corrected the environmental-neglect issues that partly caused the children's removal. He further testified that Rice had not remained clean and sober during the pendency of the case and that she had tested positive within the two months leading up to the termination hearing. In fact, he administered a drug screen the day before the termination hearing and it came back abnormal; Bratton explained that Rice had likely supplied a "fake urine" sample. He testified that she did not submit to a drug-and-alcohol assessment, complete a course in parenting instruction, or view the video "The Clock is Ticking" until the children had been out of her care for twelve months. Bratton said that Rice did not maintain consistent and regular contact with the children; she missed twelve of the thirty scheduled visits during the pendency of the case.

Next, Sandra Brubaker, a court-appointed special advocate, testified that she agreed with the Department that it would be in the children's best interest to terminate parental rights because the children are excelling in the structured environment *910they are in now. She explained they are going to school, getting medical care, learning manners, learning how to interact with other people, and are nutritionally better off.

Lastly, Shirley Watkins, an adoption specialist, testified that in her opinion the children were adoptable and that it was the Department's intent that the children be adopted as a sibling group.6

At the conclusion of the hearing, the circuit court granted the petition to terminate parental rights finding that termination was in the children's best interest and that the Department had proved both statutory grounds alleged. Rice filed a timely notice of appeal.

We review termination-of-parental-rights cases de novo. Strickland v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs. , 2018 Ark. App. 608, 567 S.W.3d 870, 875-76. An order forever terminating parental rights must be based on a finding by clear and convincing evidence that termination is in the child's best interest. Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-341(b)(3)(A). The circuit court must consider the likelihood that the child will be adopted if the parent's rights are terminated and the potential harm that could be caused if the child is returned to the parent. Id. The circuit court must also find by clear and convincing evidence one or more grounds for termination. Id. When the burden of proving a disputed fact is by clear and convincing evidence, the appellate inquiry is whether the circuit court's finding is clearly erroneous. McGaugh v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs. , 2016 Ark. App. 485, 505 S.W.3d 227. A finding is clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made. Id. In resolving the clearly-erroneous question, we defer to the circuit court because of its superior opportunity to observe the parties and judge the credibility of witnesses.

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Related

Elizabeth Garner v. Arkansas Department of Human Services and Minor Child
2022 Ark. App. 33 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2022)
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2019 Ark. App. 528 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2019)

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Bluebook (online)
2019 Ark. App. 141, 572 S.W.3d 907, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rice-v-ark-dept-of-human-servs-minor-children-arkctapp-2019.