Sahara Gonzales v. Arkansas Department of Human Services and Minor Child

2023 Ark. App. 445

Opinion

Cite as 2023 Ark. App. 445 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION IV No. CV-23-165

Opinion Delivered October 4, 2023 SAHARA GONZALES APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE SEBASTIAN V. COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, FORT SMITH DISTRICT ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN [NO. 66FJV-21-56] SERVICES AND MINOR CHILD APPELLEES HONORABLE SHANNON L. BLATT, JUDGE

AFFIRMED

MIKE MURPHY, Judge

This is a companion case to Gonzales v. Arkansas Department of Human Services, 2023

Ark. App. 444, also handed down today. In both cases, the Sebastian County Circuit Court

terminated appellant Sahara Gonzales’s parental rights. This is an appeal from the

termination of Gonzales’s parental rights to her sixth child, MC6, born March 20, 2020.

The legal issues pertaining to all the children were addressed in a single termination petition,

hearing, and termination order. On appeal, Gonzales challenges only the court’s best-interest

finding. We affirm.

MC6 entered his siblings’ previously opened case in February 2021. The Department

exercised custody because Gonzales was using methamphetamine, she had drugs in the

home, and she failed to keep the other juveniles in counseling as required. On March 1, 2021, the circuit court held a probable-cause hearing wherein it found

that probable cause existed for the emergency order to remain in place. On April 26, the

court held an adjudication hearing and, on the basis of the parties’ stipulation, found that

MC6 was dependent-neglected due to parental unfitness. The court also found that the

allegations in the petition and accompanying affidavit were substantiated by the proof, and

it ordered that the case goal be reunification. Additionally, it ordered that MC6 be placed

with Gonzales at her residential-treatment facility, and should she leave, MC6 was not to go

with her. Further, the circuit court ordered Gonzales to follow the case plan and complete

the services enumerated therein.

The case proceeded as described in Gonzales, 2023 Ark. App. 444, and Gonzales’s

rights to her children—including MC6—were terminated on December 12, 2022. The

relevant facts, arguments, and this court’s conclusions are set forth in the companion case

and are incorporated herein. Accordingly, we affirm.

Affirmed.

GLADWIN and GRUBER, JJ., agree.

Leah Lanford, Arkansas Commission for Parent Counsel, for appellant.

Kaylee Wedgeworth, Ark. Dep’t of Human Services, Office of Chief Counsel, for

appellee.

Dana McClain, attorney ad litem for minor child.