Warren v. Arkansas Department of Human Services

2014 Ark. App. 469, 441 S.W.3d 72, 2014 Ark. App. LEXIS 642
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedSeptember 17, 2014
DocketCV-14-405
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2014 Ark. App. 469 (Warren 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
Warren v. Arkansas Department of Human Services, 2014 Ark. App. 469, 441 S.W.3d 72, 2014 Ark. App. LEXIS 642 (Ark. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

ROBIN F. WYNNE, Judge.

11 Jennie Warren appeals from the order of the circuit court terminating her parental rights to her children, B.W.A., D.S., and I.W. 1 She argues on appeal that there was not sufficient evidence presented at the termination-of-parental-rights hearing to support the findings made by the circuit court. We. affirm.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS or the Department) exercised a seventy-two-hour emergency hold on the children after it received a hotline call indicating that three-month-old B.W.A. had sustained a subdural hematoma and bite marks alleged to have been caused by appellant. A worker who visited the home saw that the children were in dirty diapers and had dirty feet. The family had an open protective-services case at the time ]2¡md had a previous protective-services case that was open from December 2010 until April 2011.

In March 2013, the circuit court adjudicated the children dependent-neglected based on abuse and neglect due to inadequate supervision and “moving every few weeks to couple of months.” In the adjudication order, the circuit court noted that when B.W.A. sustained a subdural hemato-ma, appellant and the children were living with people appellant had only known for a few weeks and that appellant entrusted them to supervise the children without knowing their last names. The goal of the case was set as reunification with appellant. In a review order entered on April 25, 2013, the circuit court found that B.W.A. sustained a non-accidental brain injury as a result of being “horrifically abused” while in the custody of appellant. Following the permanency-planning hearing, the circuit court found that appellant was not complying with the case plan, was not making progress toward the goals in the case plan, and was not diligently working toward reunification. The circuit court also found that appellant had not maintained stable housing, had not maintained adequate income for herself and the children, and had not demonstrated that she could properly parent the children and keep them safe. According to the testimony at the permanency-planning hearing, appellant continued to have contact with Marquis Agee, B.W.A.’s father, despite indicating that he was previously violent toward her while she was pregnant with B.W.A. She was also pregnant with his child at the time of the permanency-planning hearing. Based on its findings, the circuit court changed the goal of the case to termination of parental rights and adoption.

The Department filed a petition to terminate appellant’s parental rights on November |s27, 2018. The hearing on the petition was held on February 20, 2014. Lauren Patton, the DHS caseworker assigned to the case, testified that appellant’s income was from various forms of government assistance, which she stated was insufficient to care for appellant and the children. Appellant was not employed. Appellant had obtained a three-bedroom apartment in November through assistance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). She had government-assisted housing previously when she lived in Star City, but lost it after being arrested. According to Ms. Patton, appellant still had not demonstrated that she could parent all four of her children. There was testimony that appellant’s visits with the children were chaotic, with the children running around and stepping on and over appellant’s youngest child, who was an infant. Appellant had canceled one visit because it was cold and had canceled another visit because a friend was having a baby. Ms. Patton also testified that appellant had Marquis Agee over to her apartment despite having an order of protection against him. She also testified regarding testimony at an earlier hearing that B.W.A.’s brain injury was “like he was dropped from the second story of a building.” According to Ms. Patton, the children were very likely to be adopted.

Appellant testified that she had a job cleaning buildings that paid $500 per month, in cash. Appellant also had an application for disability pending. She had been attempting to obtain disability benefits since age sixteen. Appellant also testified that she believed she had stable housing because she had been in her current apartment for four months. Appellant stated that she still believed that the protective order against Marquis Agee was necessary because she does not feel safe around him due to the fact that he beat her when she was |4pregnant with B.W.A. She admitted that she became pregnant by Agee again after this happened.

On February 20, 2014, the circuit court entered an order granting the petition to terminate appellant’s parental rights. This appeal followed.

In order to terminate parental rights, a circuit court must find by clear and convincing evidence that the petitioner has proved at least one statutory ground for termination and that termination is in the child’s best interest, considering the adoptability of the child and the potential harm to the child were he or she to be returned to the parent. Ark.Code Ann. § 9 — 27—341(b)(3) (Supp.2013). Only two of the grounds that were found by the circuit court were pled by DHS in the petition and, as such, will be the only grounds considered for the purposes of this appeal. Those grounds were: (1) that other factors or issues arose subsequent to the filing of the original petition for dependency-neglect that demonstrate that placement of the juvenile in the custody of the parent is contrary to the juvenile’s health, safety, or welfare and that, despite the offer 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 the placement of the juvenile in the custody of the parent, Ark.Code Ann. § 9 — 27—341(b)(3)(B)(vii)(a-) and (2) the parent is found by a court of competent jurisdiction, including the juvenile division of circuit court, to have subjected any juvenile to aggravated circumstances, Ark.Code Ann. § 9-27-341(b)(3)(B)(ix)(a)(.? )(A). The circuit court also found that the children were adoptable and that they would be subjected to potential harm if returned to appellant because she had not demonstrated the ability to parent the children and was not stable.

|fiThis court has set out the standard of review in termination-of-parental-rights cases as follows:

The rights of natural parents are not to be passed over lightly; however, parental rights will not be enforced to the detriment or destruction of the health and well being of the child. J.T. v. Ark. Dep’t of Human Servs., 329 Ark. 243, 947 S.W.2d 761 (1997). A trial court’s order terminating parental rights must be based on findings proven by clear and convincing evidence. Ark.Code Ann. § 9 — 27—341(b)(3) (Supp.2013); Dinkins v. Ark. Dep’t of Human Servs., 344 Ark. 207, 40 S.W.3d 286 (2001). Clear and convincing evidence is defined as that degree of proof that will produce in the factfinder a firm conviction as to the allegation sought to be established. Dinkins, supra. On appeal, the appellate court will not reverse the trial court’s ruling unless its findings are clearly erroneous. Id.

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Related

Conway v. Arkansas Department of Human Services
2015 Ark. App. 30 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2015)

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Bluebook (online)
2014 Ark. App. 469, 441 S.W.3d 72, 2014 Ark. App. LEXIS 642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/warren-v-arkansas-department-of-human-services-arkctapp-2014.