State ex rel. Department of Human Services v. V. G. B. R.

172 P.3d 286, 216 Or. App. 282, 2007 Ore. App. LEXIS 1669
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 28, 2007
Docket048252J; Petition Number 058282; A134740
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 172 P.3d 286 (State ex rel. Department of Human Services v. V. G. B. R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Department of Human Services v. V. G. B. R., 172 P.3d 286, 216 Or. App. 282, 2007 Ore. App. LEXIS 1669 (Or. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

ORTEGA, J.

Father appeals from a judgment terminating his parental rights. The child at issue was 27 months old at the time of the termination trial and has been in foster care since he was two months old; mother relinquished her parental rights and only father’s rights were at issue at trial. The family’s involvement with the Department of Human Services (DHS) was precipitated by reports of domestic violence and neglect and, during the pendency of the case, father did participate in services aiming to address those issues. However, reviewing de novo and giving considerable weight to the juvenile court’s credibility findings, ORS 419A.200(6); State ex rel Juv. Dept. v. Geist, 310 Or 176, 194, 796 P2d 1193 (1990), we affirm the judgment of termination.

In reviewing the facts, we begin with background information about father and about DHS’s initial involvement with the family. We then examine chronologically the services that father was provided — alcohol treatment, psychological evaluations, and domestic violence prevention education — and his conduct after participating in those services. We then turn to the parenting training provided to father during visits and child’s condition from the time he entered foster care through trial.

Father is from Mexico and is married to a woman there, with whom he has three adult children. Father’s wife was the primary caregiver for their children, and father viewed his role primarily as that of provider. Father began a relationship with mother in 2002, and child was born in July 2004. Two-and-one-half-months later, in October 2004, child entered foster care. Mother eventually relinquished her parental rights, and the trial regarding termination of father’s parental rights was held in November 2006.

Shortly after child was born, DHS received a report that mother was not bonding with child and had been completely unprepared for his birth; the agency also was concerned because mother had lost custody of her older children. DHS provided mother with an in-home visiting nurse, made referrals for services, and provided needed items such as blankets and a car seat.

[285]*285When child was two months old and living with mother in transitional housing, DHS investigated a report that he was being neglected. Mother indicated that father hit and yelled at her and would yell at her when child cried; that, while she was pregnant, father pushed her and punched her in the stomach; and that, shortly after child’s birth, father slapped her in the face while she was holding child. Mother reported feeling depressed, frustrated, and unable to cope with child, so DHS offered — and mother accepted — respite care for child. A psychological evaluation of mother conducted that same month indicated mild mental retardation, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and passive-aggressive and dependent personality features. The evaluator opined that mother was incapable of meeting child’s needs and, indeed, questioned whether she was capable of meeting even her own personal needs.

Soon thereafter, father and mother participated in a family decision meeting with DHS. Father admitted to frequent, heavy drinking and, despite his history of domestic violence, mother was unwilling to commit to preventing contact between child and father. DHS then took child into protective custody, explaining that child could not be returned until father addressed his propensity towards domestic violence. Father and mother lived together for two more months, until mother reported to a DHS caseworker that father had bitten her in the face. DHS helped mother move to a shelter for battered women — but she soon was required to leave for violating the shelter’s policy against disclosing its location when father picked her up near the shelter.

In December 2004, the court assumed jurisdiction over child. Among other things, the court ordered father to complete a drug and alcohol evaluation, a psychological evaluation, and a domestic violence intervention program, and to participate in parenting coaching. Father has not had any formal education, does not speak English, and cannot read in Spanish or English. Accordingly, DHS supplied father with interpreters, Spanish-speaking service providers, and culturally appropriate treatment programs.

Father began alcohol treatment around the time the court assumed jurisdiction. He completed treatment in April [286]*2862005 and has maintained sobriety since that time. Indeed, at the time of trial, DHS had no concerns about father using alcohol.

During the same month that father began alcohol treatment, he underwent a psychological evaluation with Dr. Torres on a referral from DHS. Torres did not diagnose father with a mental or emotional illness other than alcohol abuse. Torres concluded that father’s problems were social rather than clinical — specifically, acculturation problems and relational problems with his partner, including physical abuse. Although father displayed good abstract thinking ability, his thinking style was rigid and his social judgment poor. He exhibited low normal intelligence and lacked insight. In Torres’s view, father was “aware of only his son’s basic needs”; father could not “articulate the kind of child discipline he plan[ned] to use.”

Shortly after that evaluation, father began a domestic violence education program (as opposed to therapy) at Crossroads. Between January 2005 and March 2006, he attended 41 Crossroads classes. Father was required to take five extra classes because of a domestic violence incident with mother and voluntarily sat in on two additional classes. Father testified that, after completing the program, he “understood that [he] had to learn the laws that are here.” He also testified to the belief that his problems with violence ended after he attained sobriety and completed the Crossroads program.

In January 2006, while father was still participating in the Crossroads program, the juvenile court found that father might become minimally adequate to parent within 90 days. The court noted that he had made significant efforts by completing residential alcohol treatment and maintaining sobriety. The court observed that father had seven or eight classes left to complete in the Crossroads program, but expressed concern about his progress in addressing domestic violence:

“The primary difficulty father faces, at this juncture, is that he seems unable to admit that he has been abusive towards [mother] in the past in spite of significant evidence to the contrary. * * * It has been suggested by [the director of [287]*287Crossroads] that his lack of candor will make it difficult for him to benefit from treatment.
“[Father’s] intention to reunify with mother is another aspect of this same problem. Whereas it can be assumed that father would be more volatile and impulsive when drinking, it cannot be said that abstinence would assure more peaceful behavior. This is especially true if father considers physical abuse to be a valid dispute resolution method.”

The court explained that, in order to become a minimally adequate parent, father needed to demonstrate, among other things, an understanding of the negative effects of domestic violence on child, the behavioral skills to avoid violence, and the capacity to recognize whether another adult could safely supervise or parent child.

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Related

Department of Human Services v. C. M. M.
279 P.3d 306 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2012)
State Ex Rel. Department of Human Services v. M. B.
203 P.3d 258 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2009)
In Re ARS
172 P.3d 286 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2007)

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Bluebook (online)
172 P.3d 286, 216 Or. App. 282, 2007 Ore. App. LEXIS 1669, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-department-of-human-services-v-v-g-b-r-orctapp-2007.