Timmons v. Arkansas Department of Human Services

376 S.W.3d 466, 2010 Ark. App. 419, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 420
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMay 12, 2010
DocketNo. CA 10-71
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 376 S.W.3d 466 (Timmons 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
Timmons v. Arkansas Department of Human Services, 376 S.W.3d 466, 2010 Ark. App. 419, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 420 (Ark. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

RITA W. GRUBER, Judge.

I,Gypsy Timmons appeals the November 2, 2009 order of the Sebastian County Circuit Court that terminated her parental rights to her twenty-two-month-old child. The order of the circuit court stated that Timmons’s parental rights were terminated pursuant to the provisions of Ark.Code Ann. § 9-27-341 and found that it was contrary to the juvenile’s best interests, health and safety, and welfare to return her to Timmons’s parental care and custody. Additionally, the order noted the Choctaw Nation’s concurrence that the requirements had been met under the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and noted that the expert of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma recommended termination of parental rights.1

Timmons brings one point on appeal, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence to 12support the circuit court’s finding that terminating her parental rights was in her child’s best interest under Arkansas law. Her arguments focus on the trial court’s findings that she had ongoing drug problems and that the child would be at risk of psychological and physical harm if returned to her. We affirm.

Arkansas law requires that a termination of parental rights be based upon a finding by clear and convincing evidence that it is in the best interest of the juvenile, including consideration of i) the likelihood that the juvenile will be adopted if the termination petition is granted; and ii) the potential harm that returning the child to the custody of the parent would cause, specifically addressing the effect on the health and safety of the child. Ark.Code Ann. § 9-27-341(b)(3)(A) (Repl.2009). There must also be a finding by clear and convincing evidence of one or more grounds under subsection (b)(3)(B), including:

(i)(a) That a juvenile has been adjudicated by the court to be dependent-neglected and has continued to be out of the custody of the parent for twelve (12) months and, despite a meaningful effort by the department to rehabilitate the parent and correct the conditions that caused removal, those conditions have not been remedied by the parent,
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(ii)(a) The juvenile has lived outside the home of the parent for a period of twelve (12) months, and the parent has willfully failed to provide significant material support in accordance with the parent’s means or to maintain meaningful contact with the juvenile.
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(vii)(a) That other factors or issues arose subsequent to the filing of the original petition for dependency-neglect that demonstrate that return of the juvenile to the custody of the parent is contrary to the juvenile’s health, safety, or welfare and that, despite the |3offer of appropriate family services, the parent has manifested the incapacity or indifference to remedy the subsequent issues or factors or rehabilitate the parent’s circumstances that prevent return of the juvenile to the custody of the parent.

Ark.Code Ann. § 9-27-341(b)(3)(B) (Repl. 2009).

The circuit court announced its findings in this case “beyond a reasonable doubt.” First, it found that returning Timmons’s child to her parental care and custody was contrary to the child’s best interests, health and safety, and welfare. We summarize further findings by the court that are pertinent to the arguments Timmons now makes:

a) the ■ juvenile had been out of the mother’s home and custody for seventeen and one-half months, approximately eighty percent of the child’s life;
b) no evidence indicated that, if given additional time, the child could be safely returned to a parent within a reasonable period of time as viewed from the perspective of the juvenile;
c) throughout the case, DHS had made reasonable and active efforts to provide Timmons with services designed to rehabilitate herself, the circumstances that caused the child to be placed in foster case, and circumstances that had subsequently arisen that prevented the child from being safely returned to the mother;
d) although Timmons partially complied with the court’s orders and the case plan at one point, she did not have stable housing — living in at least ten places the past year and a half, acquiring her current residence a month ago, and spending only one night there; was recommended for residential, not out-patient, drug treatment; entered residential treatment twice but left both times before completion; had positive drug screens after completing an out-patient program; she was incarcerated twice for new behaviors since the case began; did not have stable employment or income; did not have a driver’s license or reliable means of transportation; was currently pregnant by a man who was not contributing to her stability; had not paid child support as ordered and testified that her total income for the first nine months of the year was approximately $2000; and had not attended counseling as recommended by her psychological evaluation and ordered by the court;
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|4h) the juvenile would be at risk of harm both psychologically and physically if returned to a parent; and
j) the juvenile was adoptable, and foster parents in her kinship foster placement were interested in her adoption.

The court also found that DHS had made reasonable and active efforts throughout the case to reunite the family. On these findings, Timmons’s parental rights were terminated.

Burden of Proof and Standard of Review

The circuit court employed a “beyond a reasonable doubt” burden to findings a)— j) and others that supported termination of parental rights under Ark.Code Ann. § 9-27-341 rather than the “clear and convincing” burden required by the Code. A separate provision of the ICWA prohibits termination of parental rights to an Indian child “in the absence of a determination, supported by evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, including testimony of qualified expert witnesses, to determine that the continued custody of the child by the parent or Indian custodian is likely to result in serious emotional or physical damage to the child.” 25 U.S.C.A. § 1912(f) (West 2006).

In Sartin v. State, 2010 Ark. 16, 362 S.W.3d 877, our supreme court differentiated the standards of review in actions terminating parental rights under Arkansas law, where disputed facts must be proven by clear and convincing evidence, and in criminal actions, which require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Sartin noted that parental-rights-termination cases determined under Arkansas law are reviewed de novo and are overturned only if the court’s decision that a disputed fact was established by clear and convincing evidence was clearly [ fierroneous, but questions in criminal actions are reviewed under the more deferential substantial-evidence standard, considering only evidence that supports a conviction and overturning it only if supporting substantial evidence is lacking. 2010 Ark. 16, at 6, 362 S.W.3d at 879. Sartin did not involve the termination of parental rights to an Indian child.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
376 S.W.3d 466, 2010 Ark. App. 419, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 420, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/timmons-v-arkansas-department-of-human-services-arkctapp-2010.