State ex rel. K.B.

247 So. 3d 942
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 10, 2018
DocketNo. 51,955–JAC
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 247 So. 3d 942 (State ex rel. K.B.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. K.B., 247 So. 3d 942 (La. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

BROWN, C.J.

*944In this child in need of care proceeding, the father appeals a trial court's judgment changing a case plan goal from reunification to adoption for the father's six children. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The six children, K.B., age ten, B.B., age nine, A.B., age six, S.B., age four, Ki.B., age three, and Am.B., age 17 months, were removed from their parents' custody on March 18, 2016, based on allegations that the children were in need of care pursuant to La. Ch. C. art. 606(A) due to neglect and a lack of supervision for all six children, and the physical and sexual abuse of S.B. On March 17, 2016, S.B. was taken to the emergency department at Glenwood Regional Medical Center in West Monroe with a broken right femur. S.B.'s mother, B.B., and father, W.B., alleged that S.B. had fallen at their home and broken her leg.

The physicians at the medical center stated that S.B. had a spiral fracture of her femur, which was inconsistent with the parents' story of how S.B. was injured. A more thorough examination of S.B. was made, and doctors discovered signs of sexual abuse. After further investigation, B.B., the mother, revealed that on March 15, 2016, W.B. came to her while they were in the home and said that he thought he had broken S.B.'s leg when he grabbed her by her leg. Thereafter, the father was arrested and taken to the Ouachita Correctional Center.

The children were placed in the custody of the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services ("DCFS"), and a continued custody hearing was held on March 21, 2016. The children were placed with foster families. At a hearing on June 2, 2016, the parents stipulated that the children were in need of care; the juvenile court accepted the stipulation and adjudicated the children as children in need of care under Title VI of the Louisiana Children's Code. The children had been removed from the parents' custody on two prior occasions. The children's custody was continued with DCFS at the conclusion of the June 2016 custody hearing. The case plan goal at that time was reunification with a secondary goal of adoption. At a permanency hearing held on April 24, 2017, the mother informed the court that she wanted to voluntarily surrender her parental rights. The court approved the voluntary surrender and signed a judgment terminating her rights on July 20, 2017.

At the permanency hearing held on March 16, 2017, DCFS submitted a report which stated that the father had retained adequate housing for the children and had completed his parenting and batterer's intervention classes, as well as a mental health evaluation. In January 2017, the father was referred to additional parenting classes in order to sufficiently parent his six children, four of whom had special needs. DCFS was unable to verify the father's social security income. The DCFS report also stated that the father had not explained or acknowledged how or why he broke S.B.'s leg. The DCFS report expressed concerns about his being able to effectively parent and supervise his six children alone. That concern was echoed in an April 24, 2017, report submitted to the *945court by the Court Appointed Special Advocate ("CASA") volunteer.

At a permanency hearing held on August 21, 2017, a DCFS worker and CASA volunteer each testified that it was in the best interest of the children that the permanent case plan goal be changed to adoption. The court found that the father had not adequately completed his case plan and ordered that the permanent case plan goal be changed to adoption. The father has appealed from this judgment.

DISCUSSION

The father has urged three assignments of error: 1) that the trial court committed manifest error when it ruled that the parents had not completed their case plan; 2) it is manifest error for the trial court to ignore the plain language of La. Ch. C. art. 702(C) ; and 3) the trial court committed manifest error when it found that DCFS had made reasonable efforts to reunite the family.

The health, safety, and best interest of the child is the paramount concern in all child in need of care proceedings and in the development of the case plan. La. Ch. C. arts. 601 and 675. La. Ch. C. art. 702 concerns permanency hearings and states in pertinent part as follows:

(C) The court shall determine the permanent plan for the child that is most appropriate and in the best interest of the child in accordance with the following priorities of placement:
(1) Return the child to the legal custody of the parents within a specified time period consistent with the child's age and need for a safe and permanent home. In order for reunification to remain as the permanent plan for the child, the parent must be complying with the case plan and making significant measurable progress toward achieving its goals and correcting the conditions requiring the child to be in care.
(2) Adoption.
...
(E) Except as otherwise provided in Article 672.1, the court shall determine whether the department had made reasonable efforts to reunify the parent and child or to finalize the child's placement in an alternative safe and permanent home in accordance with the child's permanent plan. The child's health and safety will be the paramount concern in the court's determination of the permanent plan.

In order for reunification to remain the permanent plan for the child, the parent must be complying with the case plan and making significant measurable progress toward achieving its goals and correcting the conditions requiring the child to be in care. La. Ch. C. art. 702(C)(1) ; State in the Interest of P.B. , 49,668 (La. App. 2 Cir. 12/17/14), 154 So.3d 806. Mere cooperation by a parent is not the sole focus of the evaluation of a permanency plan. Rather, the courts must assess whether the parent has exhibited significant improvement in the particulars that caused the state to remove the children from the parent's care and custody. Stability in the home environment and relationships is a consideration in the permanency plan determination. A parent who professes an intention to exercise his or her parental rights and responsibilities must make some action in furtherance of the intention to avoid having those rights terminated. Id.

To reverse a trial court's permanency plan determination, an appellate court must find from the record that the trial court's finding is clearly wrong or manifestly erroneous.

*946State in the Interest of N.B. , 51,374 (La. App. 2 Cir. 02/15/17), 215 So.3d 398 ; State in the Interest of C.S. , 49,955 (La. App. 2 Cir. 03/18/15), 163 So.3d 193.

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Bluebook (online)
247 So. 3d 942, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-kb-lactapp-2018.