State Ex Rel. Jb

2002 UT App 267, 53 P.3d 958, 2002 WL 1808137
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedAugust 8, 2002
Docket20010260-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2002 UT App 267 (State Ex Rel. Jb) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Jb, 2002 UT App 267, 53 P.3d 958, 2002 WL 1808137 (Utah Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

53 P.3d 958 (2002)
2002 UT App 267

STATE of Utah, in the interest of J.B., a person under eighteen years of age.
E.B., Appellant,
v.
State of Utah, Appellee.

No. 20010260-CA.

Court of Appeals of Utah.

August 8, 2002.

*959 Jeffrey J. Noland, Noland Law Office, Salt Lake City, for Appellant.

Mark L. Shurtleff, Attorney General, and Carol L. Verdoia, Assistant Attorney General, Salt Lake City, for Appellee.

Martha Pierce, Salt Lake City, Guardian Ad Litem.

Before BILLINGS, Associate P.J., and DAVIS, and GREENWOOD, JJ.

OPINION

DAVIS, Judge:

¶ 1 Appellant E.B. (Mother) appeals the juvenile court's termination of her parental rights to J.B., claiming the court erred in relying upon facts from a previous termination proceeding involving J.B.'s older siblings. Mother also claims that the juvenile court erred by not considering Utah Code Ann. § 78-3a-409 (Supp.2001)[1] in making its determination. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 Mother is the natural mother of six children: G.B., C.B., L.B., E.S.B., B.B., and J.B. The two older children, G.B. and C.B., are currently living in long-term foster care placements. Mother's parental rights to three of the children, L.B., E.S.B., and B.B., were terminated and today we have affirmed the juvenile court's ruling in that case in a separate opinion. See In re G.B., 2002 UT App 270, 53 P.3d 963. The father, R.B., voluntarily relinquished his parental rights to the same three children and is not a party to the appeal from that proceeding. The father has filed a separate appeal from the termination proceeding involving J.B., which we have also affirmed today in a separate opinion. See In re J.B., 2002 UT App 268, 53 P.3d 968.

¶ 3 This family has an extensive history with the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS). Between December 1986 and November 1998, DCFS received approximately eighteen referrals for child abuse and neglect by the parents, at least ten of which were substantiated on grounds of sexual abuse, physical abuse, physical neglect, failure to protect, emotional maltreatment, and medical neglect. In 1996, the children were first placed in foster care after being adjudicated as neglected children. The children were returned home in November 1997.

¶ 4 On or about October 9, 1998, E.S.B. disclosed to her therapist that she recently had been sexually abused by a male friend of her parents who had been living with and caring for the children in their parent's home. Mother believed the friend would never do such a thing and told DCFS that she thought E.S.B. had made up the story. Because Mother refused to ensure that this friend would be kept away from E.S.B., the child was placed into shelter care. On October 13, 1998, the other four children were removed from the family home. At a shelter hearing, Mother again asserted her belief that E.S.B. had made up the story. The juvenile court ordered DCFS to return the children to their home that day. Prior to their return, however, the children were interviewed at the Children's Justice Center. During the interview, E.S.B. asserted that her siblings, C.B., L.B., and B.B., had also been sexually inappropriate with her. C.B. and L.B. admitted touching each other's and E.S.B.'s genitalia on a frequent or regular *960 basis. Based on this new information, the children were not returned home, and instead were placed in shelter care.

¶ 5 At a hearing on October 16, 1998, the juvenile court granted temporary custody of the children to DCFS. Custody and guardianship was granted to DCFS on December 9, 1998, when the children were adjudicated abused and neglected by both parents. The two oldest children, G.B. and C.B., remain in foster care with long-term foster care as the permanency goal. L.B., E.S.B., and B.B. are in foster homes awaiting adoption.

¶ 6 Over the many years DCFS was involved with this family, the parents were provided with numerous services. These services included homemaking; nutrition; hygiene; parent advocacy; peer parenting; parenting classes; caseworker involvement; individual, couple, and family therapy; sex abuse treatment; handicapped and medical assistance; an attachment evaluation; psychological evaluations; visitation; Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) support; transportation; and special education. In addition, ongoing family preservation services were provided since 1993.

¶ 7 The State filed a verified petition for termination of parental rights on August 13, 1999. Trial on the State's petition concluded on September 11, 2000.[2] Based on the evidence presented and the testimony given, the juvenile court found that Mother had neglected her children by failing to protect them from sexual activity among themselves. The court further found that because she was in the home when the majority of the acts involving her husband and children occurred, she had failed to protect them from sexual abuse by her husband.

¶ 8 The court also recognized that DCFS had provided numerous services to this family. However, because Mother was unable or unwilling to acknowledge the family's problems, they were of little benefit. Accordingly, on October 23, 2000, pursuant to Utah Code Ann. § 78-3a-407 (Supp.2001), the juvenile court terminated parental rights to L.B., E.S.B., and B.B. based on grounds of unfitness, neglect, failure to remedy circumstances causing out-of-home placement, and best interest of the children.

¶ 9 The trial on the first petition to terminate Mother's parental rights concluded on September 11, 2000, and the final order was entered on October 23, 2000. On August 20, 2000, J.B. was born in the state of Idaho. Mother created a fictitious birth certificate which gave the child a different name and listed the names of Mother's friends as the natural parents of J.B. Mother concealed her pregnancy and the birth of J.B. during the course of termination proceedings regarding the older siblings.

¶ 10 DCFS learned of the birth of J.B. and began an investigation. When questioned, Mother told DCFS that she was babysitting J.B. for a friend who worked at night. Mother presented the false birth certificate to validate her story. DCFS visited the friend, who subsequently confessed to the deception. J.B. was removed from the parental home on or about October 17, 2000, as a child at risk under Utah Code Ann. § 78-3a-103(1)(r)(i)(E) (Supp.2001). Temporary custody and guardianship of J.B. was granted to DCFS at a shelter hearing held on October 30, 2000.

¶ 11 On November 13, 2000, the State filed its termination petition concerning J.B. and a trial was held on January 25, 2001. The State moved the court to take judicial notice of all prior proceedings, including the first termination findings and order pertaining to the older siblings. Mother and the father objected. The court heard argument and granted the motion, taking judicial notice of all prior proceedings involving the family.

¶ 12 Mother, the father, their friend B.R., and three DCFS caseworkers testified at the trial regarding J.B. Based on that testimony and the historical facts surrounding the parents' abuse and neglect of their older children, the juvenile court terminated Mother's and the father's parental rights to J.B. pursuant *961

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Bluebook (online)
2002 UT App 267, 53 P.3d 958, 2002 WL 1808137, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-jb-utahctapp-2002.