Tadlock v. Arkansas Department of Human Services

372 S.W.3d 403, 2009 Ark. App. 841, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 1053
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedDecember 9, 2009
DocketNo. CA 09-638
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 372 S.W.3d 403 (Tadlock 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
Tadlock v. Arkansas Department of Human Services, 372 S.W.3d 403, 2009 Ark. App. 841, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 1053 (Ark. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

KAREN R. BAKER, Judge.

| )AppelIant Ronald Tadlock appeals from an order terminating his parental rights in T.T. (born August 12, 2007), and an order adjudicating another child, C.T. (born December 4, 2008), dependent-neglected. We affirm both orders.

On August 12, 2007, Michelle Hrdlicka gave birth to Padlock’s daughter, T.T., in a hospital bathroom. Hrdlicka tested positive for drugs, and the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) placed a seventy-two-hour hold on T.T. and another of Hrdlicka’s children, six-year-old S.M.1 DHS obtained emergency custody of the children on August 16, 2007.

On August 22, 2007, Ronald Tadlock tested positive for cocaine. That same day, the ^circuit court found probable cause for the children’s removal from the home and a continuation of DHS custody. The court directed Tadlock and Hrdlicka to follow court orders and the DHS case plan; to cooperate with DHS; to remain clean and sober; to submit to random drug testing; to attend NA/AA meetings and obtain sponsors; to submit to drug assessments and follow recommendations; to attend individual and family counseling and follow recommendations; to view “The Clock Is Ticking” video; and to contact the DHS caseworker and CASA worker weekly. The couple were allowed restricted, supervised visitation upon providing three clean drug screens.

On September 4, 2007, Tadlock again tested positive for cocaine. Thereafter, the court adjudicated T.T. and S.M. dependent-neglected. The court established a goal of reunification; restated its previous orders to the parents; adopted a mediation agreement in which Tadlock and Hrdlicka promised to, among other things, attend NA/AA meetings three times a week and obtain sponsors; and declared that the parents should attend court hearings, maintain stable housing and employment, and maintain a clean, safe, and healthy living environment.

A review order entered on December 12, 2007, continued the goal of reunification despite finding that Tadlock had not complied with the case plan and court orders. A second review order, entered on March 12, 2008, found that Tadlock and Hrdlicka had partially complied with the case plan and court orders. A permanency-planning order entered on July 28, 2008, made similar findings. That order also granted Tad-lock and Hrdlicka weekend visitation as long as they remained clean and sober and maintained suitable housing.

|sOn August 29, 2008, approximately one year after the children were removed from the home, the court granted Tadlock and Hrdlicka an eight-day home visit with T.T. and S.M. On October 24, 2008, the court allowed Tadlock and Hrdlicka a sixty-day trial visit after finding that they were in compliance with the case plan and court orders; that they had made significant, measurable progress toward achieving the case-plan goals; and that they had worked diligently toward reunification. The court stated that, if the sixty-day trial visit proved successful, T.T. and S.M. could return home. The trial visit was successful, and the court returned the children to Tadlock and Hrdlicka on December 22, 2008.

Despite the successful trial visit, the children remained with Tadlock and Hrdlicka only a short time. On January 7, 2009, DHS placed a seventy-two-hour hold on T.T. and S.M. and sought emergency custody of them after Hrdlicka tested positive for cocaine during a DHS home visit. Tadlock tested negative for drugs, as he had on all screens since September 4, 2007. DHS also placed a hold on one-month-old C.T., who had been born to Tadlock and Hrdlicka on December 4, 2008. On January 9, 2009, DHS filed a dependency-neglect petition seeking emergency custody ofC.T.

Within days, the circuit court placed all three children in DHS custody and found probable cause for their removal from the home. DHS subsequently filed a motion to terminate reunification services and to terminate Tadlock’s and Hrdlicka’s parental rights to T.T. and S.M. The court scheduled an adjudication/termination/no-reunification hearing for March 2009. Additionally, the court suspended parental visitation and ordered Tadlock and 14Hrdlicka to attend anger-management classes, based on a counselor’s report that the couple’s “continuous verbal arguments” during visits caused S.M. and T.T. extreme emotional distress.

The evidence at the hearing demonstrated that Tadlock had obeyed court orders by acquiring stable housing, employment, and transportation; by completing parenting classes; and by remaining drug free for approximately a year and a half. However, caseworker Brandi Cannan testified that Tadlock did not comply with the court’s order to attend NA/AA meetings regularly. She also testified that DHS was not certain that Tadlock could take care of the children without the many services that had been in place. According to Cannan, DHS was providing, at the time of the children’s removal in January 2009, daycare vouchers, transportation, utility assistance, food vouchers, counseling services, and twice-weekly visits from a social-service aid. Cannan additionally testified that Tadlock should have known that Hrdlicka had relapsed into drug use, and she felt uncertain that Tadlock could ensure that Hrdlicka was no longer in the home and using drugs. According to Can-nan, Hrdlicka and Tadlock still had a relationship, and Hrdlicka came to the home to eat, visit, and do laundry. Cannan stated further that Tadlock’s job at McDonald’s would not generate sufficient income to care for the family. However, she admitted that she had not gone over Tadlock’s expenses with him. Cannan further stated that Tadlock had a “violent anger.” She said that he “stormed out of the courtroom” at a prior hearing and that, during a DHS staffing, he remarked, “I don’t care no more, you can take the baby.”

Tamara Stricklin, a DHS social-service aid, testified that Tadlock had a “lackadaisical” |sattitude about the problems in the home. Stricklin noted inappropriate meal preparation and housekeeping (including a severe roach problem); people going in and out of the house, using the telephone according to Tadlock; and one occasion where she “smelled what I thought was marijuana.” Stricklin could not remember if Tadlock was present when she detected the odor. Stricklin also said that she observed a younger couple in the home one morning and that the young man was sitting on the sofa without a shirt on. Strick-lin additionally said that Tadlock became very angry with Hrdlicka when he learned that she had tested positive for cocaine and that he yelled at Hrdlicka and made verbal threats; however, according to Stricklin, Tadlock should have known that Hrdlicka was using drugs based on her behavior and demeanor. Stricklin also testified that Tadlock “just doesn’t have control of himself emotionally.” She said that, during one visit with S.M., Tadlock terrified the child by dragging her into a room and demanding that Hrdlicka tell S.M. “what she [Hrdlicka] had done to cause all of it.” Stricklin said that when she tried to discuss the incident with Tad-lock, he became “belligerent” and “defiant,” telling her that she did not need to tell him what to do. Finally, Stricklin expressed her opinion that the children were not getting enough to eat. She said that she once picked up S.M. from a visitation at 10:15 (presumably in the morning) and the child had not eaten breakfast.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Kourtney Noe v. Arkansas Department of Human Services and Minor Children
2021 Ark. App. 149 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2021)
Philip Wallace v. Arkansas Department of Human Services and Minor Children
2020 Ark. App. 67 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2020)
Bailey v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs. & Minor Children
2019 Ark. App. 134 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2019)
Hilburn v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs.
558 S.W.3d 885 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2018)
McKinney v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs.
551 S.W.3d 412 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2018)
McKinney v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs. & Minor Children
544 S.W.3d 101 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2018)
Whitaker v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs.
540 S.W.3d 719 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2018)
Terrones v. Arkansas Department of Human Services
2017 Ark. App. 115 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2017)
Troglin v. Arkansas Department of Human Services
2017 Ark. App. 89 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2017)
Ark. Dep't of Human Servs. v. Veasley
2016 Ark. App. 175 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2016)
Conway v. Arkansas Department of Human Services
2015 Ark. App. 30 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2015)
Skaggs v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs.
2014 Ark. App. 229 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2014)
Cariker v. Arkansas Department of Human Services
385 S.W.3d 859 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2011)
Tadlock v. Arkansas Department of Human Services
373 S.W.3d 361 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
372 S.W.3d 403, 2009 Ark. App. 841, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 1053, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tadlock-v-arkansas-department-of-human-services-arkctapp-2009.