State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. Ricks

848 P.2d 630, 118 Or. App. 566, 1993 Ore. App. LEXIS 433
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMarch 17, 1993
Docket90-JU-2753; CA A74233
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 848 P.2d 630 (State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. Ricks) 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. Ricks, 848 P.2d 630, 118 Or. App. 566, 1993 Ore. App. LEXIS 433 (Or. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

ROSSMAN, P. J.

Parents appeal from a judgment terminating their parental rights. ORS 419.561. We review de novo, ORS 419. 561(1), (5), and affirm.

In early 1988, five-year-old A1 revealed to her grandmother that her “daddy” had sexually abused her. A had previously told mother about the abuse, but mother had not believed her. Physical examinations confirmed that A had been repeatedly abused. Children’s Service Division (CSD) removed both A and her one-year-old sister, T, from the home.

CSD had previously received two complaints about mother’s fitness as a parent. Each time, CSD had offered counseling and parenting classes. Mother chose not to participate in those activities. After A and T were removed from the home, CSD again offered assistance in an effort to reintegrate the children into the home. Both parents continually refused to cooperate. In May, 1988, mother gave birth to J1, a boy. At that time, father had criminal charges pending against him as a result of the abuse of A. He was ordered to have no contact with children as a condition of his release.2 Mother told CSD that she was separated from father in order to prevent CSD from taking the baby from the home. CSD discovered that mother and father were still living together and had moved J1 to a friend’s house 100 miles away. CSD had received reports that the friend had engaged in sexual misconduct with a foster child who had previously lived with her. Because of their concerns about the friend, CSD removed J1.

In September, 1989, mother gave birth to another son, J2. At that time there were no court orders preventing father from contact with the children. Nevertheless, the CSD caseworker was concerned about the parents’ fitness because of their persistent denial of the abuse and father’s role in it and their unwillingness to pursue any treatment or steps towards reintegration of the children. The caseworker testified that father had threatened her. Because CSD felt there [569]*569was a risk to the baby, J2 was removed from the home when he was three days old.

In January, 1990, the state filed petitions for termination of the parental rights of both mother and father to all four children. The proceedings were stayed pending appeal of the court’s jurisdiction over the children. That appeal was dismissed on the parents’ own motion.

In February, 1991, mother gave birth to a daughter, E. The court ordered mother and father to turn her over to CSD for custody by February 21. On February 20, mother and father moved to Idaho, taking E with them.3 They made no attempts to visit or contact their four children in Oregon for nearly a year, until just before trial.

The state filed amended petitions for termination in April, 1991. After several delays, a trial was held on January 28, 1992. On March 4, 1992, the court terminated both parents’ rights to A, T, J1 and J2.

Parents argue that the state’s entire case rests on the “unsubstantiated claim” that father sexually abused A and that that claim is not enough to support the terminations. Parents are wrong. Most of the allegations arose as a result of the sexual abuse, but that is only one of the grounds upon which the state sought termination. The state presented six other grounds, four of which are independent grounds supporting termination under ORS 419.523.4

[570]*570The state alleged that parents were unfit because of mother’s addictive, chronic or habitual use of intoxicating liquors or controlled substances; both parents’ physical and emotional neglect of the children; lack of effort by both parents to adjust their circumstances, conduct or conditions to make return of the children possible despite the reasonable efforts of social agencies over an extended period of time; and failure of either parent to provide care or to pay a reasonable portion of care and maintenance of the children while they were in the custody of others. ORS 419.523(3)(c), (d), and (e); ORS 419.523(4)(a). All of those allegations are addressed to conduct other than the abuse itself.

The evidence is clear and convincing that both mother and father are unfit by reason of conduct and conditions seriously detrimental to the children. First, we find, by clear and convincing evidence, that father sexually abused A, and that the abuse was a repeated course of conduct. The physical evidence shows that A was sexually abused. She was examined by Dr. Halpert a few days after she initially reported the abuse. He found multiple scarring consistent with recurrent episodes, including a hymenal tear, rounding and heaping v. of the edges of the hymen, and extensive trauma. He concluded that A had been repeatedly abused. Those findings were confirmed by Dr. Clark in July, 1988, who examined A at parents’ request. Both doctors testified that the injuries could not have been caused by self-manipulation.

[571]*571On appeal, parents admit that the physical evidence shows that the abuse occurred. They claim that they did not deny that it happened but disagreed with the identification of the abuser. At trial, however, they went to great lengths to try to show that the wounds could be self-inflicted, even in the face of the evidence of their own medical expert.

The evidence is equally clear and convincing that it was father who. abused the child. A’s psychological tests and testimony reveal an intelligent girl who understands the difference between truth and lying. In the nearly four years between the day she first reported the abuse and the day of the termination trial, A went through extensive psychological testing and therapy during which she has repeatedly identified father as the abuser. Several caseworkers testified about pressure tactics by mother to influence the child and A’s intense desire to return home. Even so, A wanted to return only as long as “daddy” did not hurt her anymore, and she continued to identify father as her abuser.

A CSD caseworker testified that A was specifically asked about several other people whom mother and father accused as potential perpetrators, and that A denied that they had ever touched her inappropriately. No evidence was presented indicating that they or anyone other than father had sufficient access to A to repeatedly abuse her.

We have held that abuse of one child by a parent may support termination of parental rights to other children. In State ex rel Juv. Dept. v. Miglioretto, 88 Or App 126, 744 P2d 298 (1987), the father’s parental rights to his daughter were terminated based on his sexual abuse of his other daughter and his stepdaughter. We said:

“ORS 419.523(2) does not require that any child remain in an abusive environment until the state can show that abuse of that particular child has occurred. If there is evidence of abuse of any

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Related

State Ex Rel. Juvenile Department v. Gohranson
923 P.2d 1259 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1996)

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Bluebook (online)
848 P.2d 630, 118 Or. App. 566, 1993 Ore. App. LEXIS 433, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-juvenile-department-v-ricks-orctapp-1993.