Stephens v. Arkansas Department of Human Services

427 S.W.3d 160, 2013 Ark. App. 249, 2013 WL 1682462, 2013 Ark. App. LEXIS 271
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedApril 17, 2013
DocketNo. CA 12-1096
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 427 S.W.3d 160 (Stephens v. Arkansas Department of Human Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stephens v. Arkansas Department of Human Services, 427 S.W.3d 160, 2013 Ark. App. 249, 2013 WL 1682462, 2013 Ark. App. LEXIS 271 (Ark. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

DAVID M. GLOVER, Judge.

|, Kayla Stephens appeals from the termination of her parental rights to her daughter, J.S. (D.O.B.12-1-2009),1 challenging the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the termination. We affirm.

Background

Kayla was arrested on January 26, 2011, on charges of possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver and for child endangerment due to the presence of methamphetamine in the home. DHS was called to assist with Kayla’s child, J.S., who was approximately one year old at the time. DHS exercised a seventy-two-hour hold, removing J.S. from Kayla’s custody, and then obtained an ex parte order for emergency custody on January 31, 2011. [ ?The probable-cause hearing was held on February 3, 2011. Kayla had been released from jail by then, but she did not attend the hearing and her whereabouts were not known. At the adjudication hearing on March 2, 2011, the trial court found J.S. to be dependent-neglected based on Kayla’s methamphetamine use and child endangerment. Jeremy Steven Long was determined to be the child’s father, and he stated that he believed he was eligible for membership in the Choctaw Indian Tribe. The trial court ordered him to provide evidence of that membership, and DHS was ordered to give notice under the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).

The original goal of the case was reunification. Following a July 27, 2011 review hearing, that goal was left in place, but Kayla was found to be in minimal compliance, and the father was determined to be completely non-eompliant. Custody of J.S. was placed with Kayla’s cousin, Jennifer Anderson, by agreed order entered October 28, 2011.

On December 14, 2011, a permanency-planning hearing was held, and the goal of the case was changed to adoption. The trial court found that Kayla had failed to comply with the case plan and court orders, and that she had recently been sentenced to two years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. Moreover, prior to her conviction, Kayla had failed to obtain stable or appropriate housing, employment, income, or transportation. She had also failed to complete parenting classes and drug treatment.

The termination hearing was held on May 9, 2012. At that hearing, Kayla testified that she had been released from prison on February 27, 2012, and would be on parole until | .¡October 26, 2013. She stated that she had moved into an apartment a week prior to the hearing. She explained that she had been a daily meth user for about a year but that she had not used any meth since she entered prison in October 2011. She acknowledged that she had undergone a drug-and-alcohol assessment that recommended she complete residential treatment, but that she had failed to do so. Neither did she attend any twelve-step programs while-she was in prison. An additional assessment recommended that she undergo an intensive outpatient-treatment program. She attended the first session of a sixteen-week treatment program on the day before the termination hearing. She had attended two NA/AA meetings (March 14 and March 16) at the time of the hearing.

Kayla testified that she currently had a home and a job, but no groceries and no driver’s license. Her license had been suspended, and she was relying upon her father for transportation. She acknowledged that her first attempt to stop using meth, which was motivated by the removal of J.S. from her custody, had not lasted, and she relapsed. She also acknowledged that there had been a two-week period during which she had not notified her caseworker that she had been released from jail, and she had used marijuana and methamphetamine. She stated that J.S. entered foster care in January 2011; that she (Kayla) would stay clean for a period of time but then return to using meth; and that she occasionally missed visits with J.S. but tried to be regular in visiting. She said that the last time she had seen J.S. was around October 15; she had not taken advantage of two opportunities to see J.S. | ¿prior to her incarceration. Kayla acknowledged that prior to her arrest and J.S.’s removal, she had exposed J.S. to significant drug use.

Jennifer Marsh, Kayla’s caseworker, testified about the services DHS had offered to Kayla. She explained that Kayla had failed to complete any services before she went to prison on October 31, 2011, which was nine months after J.S. was removed from her custody; that she did not begin to work on her case plan until the goal was changed to adoption at the permanency-planning hearing in late February 2012; that she finished parenting classes seven days prior to the termination hearing; that she completed a drug-and-alcohol assessment two months prior to the termination hearing; and that she had entered outpatient drug treatment twelve days prior to the termination hearing. Marsh explained that DHS was recommending termination of Kayla’s parental rights and adoption for J.S. She testified that Kayla’s history of drug use raised concerns about J.S.’s safety and that Kayla had not been out of prison long enough to demonstrate that she could remain drug free. She testified that J.S. was adoptable and that adoption was in her best interest, with relatives willing to adopt her.

Although the parties stipulated that the child’s father had never produced the ordered evidence of the child’s eligibility for membership in the Choctaw Indian Tribe, Karen Hawkins, a qualified ICWA expert, testified at the hearing nevertheless and stated that DHS had provided services to the family and was in compliance with ICWA; that she recommended termination of parental rights; and that from the information she had been provided, it was her opinion that J.S. would be at serious risk of harm if she were returned |-to Kayla. She stated that she based her opinion on the length of time J.S. had been in foster care, the length of time J.S. had been without visitation with Kayla, and Kayla’s lack of effort prior to her incarceration. She stated that she was concerned about Kayla having a relapse and that Kayla had only been out of jail for two and a half months at the time of the termination hearing.

At the conclusion of the termination hearing, the trial court expressed concern that Kayla had returned to using drugs after she had been arrested and J.S. had been removed from her custody. It noted that J.S. had only lived with Kayla for thirteen months and that she had lived with Jennifer Anderson for at least fifteen months at the time of the hearing. Even though the child’s father had not produced the ordered evidence of eligibility for Choctaw membership, the trial court utilized the higher evidentiary standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which is required under the Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 U.S.C. §§ 1901 to 1963 (2010). The trial court found that DHS had used reasonable and active efforts to rehabilitate Kayla and prevent the dissolution of an Indian family; that DHS had complied with ICWA requirements; and that DHS had demonstrated the likeliness of serious emotional harm if returned to the parent. In addition, the trial court found that J.S. was adoptable and that termination was in her best interest.

In this case, J.S.’s possible eligibility for membership in an Indian tribe was injected into the case, but never established.

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Bluebook (online)
427 S.W.3d 160, 2013 Ark. App. 249, 2013 WL 1682462, 2013 Ark. App. LEXIS 271, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stephens-v-arkansas-department-of-human-services-arkctapp-2013.