State Ex Rel. Juvenile Department v. Oseguera

773 P.2d 775, 96 Or. App. 520, 1989 Ore. App. LEXIS 570
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMay 10, 1989
DocketJ-5180; CA A46711
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 773 P.2d 775 (State Ex Rel. Juvenile Department v. Oseguera) 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. Juvenile Department v. Oseguera, 773 P.2d 775, 96 Or. App. 520, 1989 Ore. App. LEXIS 570 (Or. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

*522 DEITS, J.

Mother appeals from an order terminating her parental rights to two of her children. She argues that the trial court erred in finding that the state proved by clear and convincing evidence that her rights should be terminated. We affirm.

Mother, 28, has four children, ages seven, five, four and three. This case involves the oldest and the youngest, Jessica and Josephine. 1 On November 24, 1985, mother went to dinner with friends at about 10:30 p.m. She had just returned from the hospital, after giving birth to Josephine four days before. She arranged for a teenager to watch the children and told her that she would return in two hours. When mother did not return, the babysitter called the police, who found the children in a run-down, rat-infested apartment. They were dirty and smelleuof urine. They had colds and distended stomachs; the two eldest children had worms; and Jessica had long, deep red lines running down her back and buttocks.

The next morning the case was referred to a Children’s Services Division (CSD) caseworker. It was the fifth referral that the caseworker had received about possible neglect of the children in the past year. Mother came to the CSD office later that morning. She was angry and smelled of alcohol. She explained that she had gone to Portland and returned home at 4:30 a.m. She was upset that the children had been taken and blamed the sitter. She felt that the sitter should not have called the police. She stated later, at the termination hearing, that she had made “one stupid mistake” and that was “picking the wrong babysitter.” Caseworkers questioned mother about how much she had been drinking the previous night. She stated that she had had only two brandies and denied that she had a drinking problem. A shelter hearing was held that day, and it was decided that the children would remain in shelter care, pending investigation of mother’s circumstances. Mother agreed with CSD that it should keep the children until she could find a better place to live and complete a parenting program.

*523 On December 11,1985, mother was taken into protective custody by the McMinnville police, because she was so intoxicated that she was “unable to take care of herself.” On learning of that, the caseworker became concerned that mother did have an alcohol problem. She asked her to go to White Oaks Treatment Center for an evaluation. The caseworker indicated that, if White Oaks recommended treatment, CSD would arrange for it and, if not, because mother still did not have a place to live with her children, CSD would help her find a place to live and would return the children. When the White Oaks counselors saw mother in December, 1985, they found her to be extremely hostile and uncooperative. She admitted that she might have been an alcoholic before the birth of her children but denied that she now drank more than one beer at a time. The counselors concluded that she had an alcohol problem and recommended inpatient or residential treatment.

During the first visitations that mother had with her children, the caseworker was encouraged by the bonding that she saw and felt that there was a possibility that progress could be made. She arranged a regular visitation schedule for mother to see her children. From November, 1985, until February, 1986, mother was permitted to see the children weekly. However, she only saw them four or five times, either because she did not request visits or because she did not show up for scheduled visits. The children were quite upset when mother did not come. She was told of the effect of this on her children but continued to miss visits. Mother was also referred by CSD to parenting classes. She attended the orientation in December, 1985, but failed to fill out the questionnaire and never did enroll in the program.

On February 6,1986, the children were made wards of the court. The court imposed three conditions that mother had to satisfy before her children would be returned: She had to enroll in and complete an alcohol treatment program; she had to establish and maintain regular visitation with the children; she had to participate in parenting classes. Mother was given a letter detailing the plan for the re-integration of the children to her custody. The letter made it clear that an inpatient alcohol program was a required first step. It also reminded her that she had yet to contact her caseworker to arrange a visitation schedule. Mother’s response was hostile. *524 She did arrange and appear for weekly visits in February. However, she told the caseworker that she could not attend the alcohol program, because she was in a job training program. When the coordinator of the program was called, he indicated that she had only shown up for training twice and no longer came.

In March, 1986, the case was transferred to a permanent planning status. 2 That action was taken because mother refused to get alcohol treatment and consistently denied that she needed treatment. She was again informed that, in order for her to get her children back, she needed to comply with the court order. During the next thirteen months, she resisted alcohol treatment and repeatedly violated visitation rules. When the caseworker tried to talk to her, she reacted with aggression and anger. In the summer of 1986, she spent three months in jail and was placed on eight years probation after she was involved in a fight with her ex-husband’s girlfriend and was convicted of harassment and theft. She was released from jail to White Oaks for inpatient alcohol treatment but was asked to leave the program because of her unwillingness to abide by program rules.

When the court reviewed mother’s progress in September, 1986, it ordered her to submit to a psychological evaluation and once again ordered alcohol treatment. Dr. Sweet, psychologist, conducted a comprehensive psychological evaluation and concluded that mother has “a personality disorder that is very resistant to change” and a “significant problem with alcohol.” Sweet assessed mother as a person who has difficulty understanding complex situations and difficulty acquiring and retaining new information. He described her as a resentful, angry, demanding and manipulative woman who will not take responsibility for her own behavior. He concluded that she has poor insight and lacks good judgment and blames other people for her own deficiencies and failures. Sweet noted that she had difficulty following through on tasks that require sustained effort and had difficulty learning from experience. Sweet did not consider her a good resource for the *525 children “as long as mother denies having any problems and avoids working with CSD.” He recommended that, if she continued to resist CSD’s efforts it would be in the best interests of the children to terminate her parental rights.

On February 5,1987, CSD decided to begin termination proceedings. Mother was informed of the decision on February 9. On February 15, she went to the home of her ex-husband, where her two other children had been placed. She was loud and threatening to the inhabitants and frightened the children. As a result of that incident, a restraining order was obtained against her.

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Bluebook (online)
773 P.2d 775, 96 Or. App. 520, 1989 Ore. App. LEXIS 570, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-juvenile-department-v-oseguera-orctapp-1989.