Alsager v. District Court of Polk County, Iowa (Juvenile Division)

• Decision Date: 17 June 1975
• Docket Number: No. 75-1063,75-1063
• Citation: 518 F.2d 1160
• Parties: Charles LeRoy ALSAGER, Sr. and Darlene Lauvern Alsager, Appellants, v. DISTRICT COURT OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA (JUVENILE DIVISION), et al., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1160

518 F.2d 1160

Charles LeRoy ALSAGER, Sr. and Darlene Lauvern Alsager, Appellants, v. DISTRICT COURT OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA (JUVENILE DIVISION), et

al., Appellees.

No. 75-1063.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted May 13, 1975.

Decided June 17, 1975.

Burt Neuborne, Juvenile Rights Project, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York City, for appellants.

Harold A. Young, Des Moines, Iowa, for appellees.

Before LAY, ROSS and WEBSTER, Circuit Judges.

ROSS, Circuit Judge.

Charles LeRoy Alsager, Sr., and his wife Darlene brought this civil rights action in the district court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and its jurisdictional counterpart, 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3), seeking a declaratory judgment that their constitutional rights were violated by state court proceedings which resulted in the termination of their parental relationship with five of their six children. Specifically under attack for vagueness is Iowa Code Ann. § 232.41 (1973) which provides that under certain conditions the state court may terminate the parent-child relationship. ¹ It is also asserted that the Alsagers were denied due process of law both procedurally and substantively in the Iowa courts.

The federal district court held a trial on the merits, receiving evidence both in the form of expert testimony and in the form of affidavits. Additionally, the entire state court transcript and all pertinent records were lodged with the district court. However, without reaching the merits of the constitutional claims, the district judge denied the Alsagers' request for declaratory relief primarily because he felt that such relief would be ineffective. Alsager v. District Court, 384 F.Supp. 643, 652 (S.D.Iowa 1974). We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

The facts relevant to the disposition of this appeal are undisputed. In the late 1960's the Alsagers were having difficulty raising their children. Their family in 1969, when the state court proceedings commenced, consisted of George, age 10; Wanda, age 8; John, age 7; Charles, Jr., age 6; Michael, age 4; and Albert, less than one year old. In June of that year, after receiving complaints from neighbors, a probation officer from the Polk County, Iowa, Juvenile Court visited the Alsager home and determined after a brief stay that all six children should be removed immediately. This was done with no prior notice to the Alsagers. Within a week a hearing was held, the result of which was that Polk County District Judge Don L. Tidrick found that the children were "neglected" as defined in Iowa Code Ann. § 232.2(15) (1973) and ordered that they remain in the custody of the county court pending placement in a foster home or institution.

A short time after the neglect ruling the Chief Probation Officer filed a petition to terminate the Alsagers' parent-child relationship in the Polk County District Court. A hearing was held before Judge Tidrick on this petition on September 9, 1969, at which the Alsagers were present with retained counsel and the children were represented by a guardian ad litem.

On September 29, 1969, Judge Tidrick issued an order pertaining to the termination petition in which he stated that he had found "adequate and sufficient cause" to terminate the parent-child relationship. However, he declined to issue a final termination order at that time. George and Wanda were released to the custody of their parents; but the four youngest children remained in the court's custody.

The matter was continued until March 19, 1970, when another hearing was held. Again the Alsagers were represented by counsel. Finally, after a third hearing on May 22, 1970, Judge Tidrick issued his final termination order. In that order he ruled that Wanda should remain with her parents but terminated the Alsagers' parental rights "in and to" the other five children. An appeal was taken to the Iowa Supreme Court which affirmed the decision on October 18, 1972. State v. Alsager, 201 N.W.2d 727 (Iowa 1972). It should be noted that no federal constitutional claims were raised before the Iowa courts.

At the time of the trial on the Alsagers' complaint in the federal district court on March 18, 1974, approximately four and one-half years had passed since the children had been removed initially. The situation was as follows: George, the oldest, had returned to his parents' home and was living there, although his legal status was unclear. Wanda, of course, was at home. Two of the remaining four had not adapted to foster homes and were considered unadoptable; while the other two were apparently living happily with foster parents, and it was thought that they might be adopted by them. All parties agreed that if these adoptions occurred, these latter two boys should not be restored to the Alsagers. The district judge found that "the factual intricacies of the . . . situation are so complex as to render a declaratory judgment as to the May 22, 1970 termination both inadequate and ineffective." Alsager v. District Court, supra, 384 F.Supp. at 652.

I.

It is well established that the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201, granted the federal courts discretion "to make a declaration of rights; it did not impose a duty to do so." Public Affairs Press v. Rickover,369 U.S. 111, 112, 82 S.Ct. 580, 582, 7 L.Ed.2d 604 (1962). Accord, Zemel v. Rusk, 381 U.S. 1, 19, 85 S.Ct. 1271, 14 L.Ed.2d 179 (1965); Public Service Commission v. Wycoff Co., 344 U.S. 237, 241, 73 S.Ct. 236, 97 L.Ed. 291 (1952). However, it is equally clear that the district court's exercise of this discretion is subject to review on appeal and that the appellate court may substitute its judgment for that of the lower court. Broadview Chemical Corp. v. Loctite Corp., 417 F.2d 998, 1000 (2d Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 1064, 90 S.Ct. 1502, 25 L.Ed.2d 686 (1970); Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. American Mutual Liability Insurance Co., 372 F.2d 435, 438 (7th Cir. 1967); Delno v. Market Street Ry., 124 F.2d 965, 968 (9th Cir. 1942).

In determining whether or not declaratory relief would be proper in any given situation the courts have frequently followed the guidelines stated by Professor Borchard.

The two principal criteria guiding the policy in favor of rendering declaratory judgments are (1) when the judgment will serve a useful purpose in clarifying and settling the legal relations in issue, and (2) when it will terminate and afford relief from the uncertainty, insecurity, and controversy giving rise to the proceedings. It follows that when neither of these results can be accomplished, the court should decline to render the declaration prayed.

E. Borchard, Declaratory Judgments 299 (2d ed. 1941). See Maryland Casualty Co. v. Rosen, 445 F.2d 1012, 1014 (2d Cir. 1971); Broadview Chemical Corp. v. Loctite Corp., supra, 417 F.2d at 1001; Delno v. Market Street Ry., supra, 124 F.2d at 968.

The Supreme Court, in language particularly pertinent here, has discussed the standards to be applied.

But when all of the axioms have been exhausted and all words of definition have been spent, the propriety of declaratory relief in a particular case will depend upon a circumspect sense of its fitness informed by the teachings and experience concerning the functions and extent of federal judicial power. While the courts should not be reluctant or niggardly in granting this relief in the cases for which it was designed, they must be alert to avoid imposition upon their jurisdiction through obtaining futile or premature interventions, especialy (sic) in the field of public law. . . . Such differences of opinion or conflicts of interest must be "ripe for determination" as controversies over legal rights. The disagreement must not be nebulous or contingent but must have taken on fixed and final shape so that a court can see what legal issues it is deciding, what effect its decision will have on the adversaries, and some useful purpose to be achieved in deciding them.

Public Service Commission v. Wycoff Co., supra, 344 U.S. at 243-244, 73 S.Ct. at 240.

We are satisfied that these standards have been met in the instant case and hold, therefore, that the district court abused its discretion in denying declaratory relief.

There is no doubt that the conflict of interest herein is an actual controversy "ripe for determination." ² The defendants have removed the children from the Alsager home and terminated parental rights. The Alsagers want the children back and want to resume the parent-child relationship. The Alsagers claim that this relationship was terminated by the defendants under an unconstitutional statute in an unconstitutional manner. The defendants deny this assertion of unconstitutionality. This disagreement is certainly not "nebulous or contingent"; the legal constitutional issues are clearly drawn and are set in the context of a very real controversy.

The effect of a decision on the merits can readily be seen. If the court rules against the Alsagers' contentions, it will mean that the parent-child relationship was not terminated unconstitutionally and that the state court and the county authorities will be free to decide the childrens' future with no input from the Alsagers. If the court rules in favor of the Alsagers, however, it will mean that the relationship was not legally terminated and that the Alsagers are still the parents of these children who would, as such, have a very substantial role in determining what will become of the children.

The usefulness of such a declaratory judgment is manifest, for it will "clear the air" and allow all the parties to deal with the affected children in a manner consistent with their legal relationships to them. Here this is especially important because the record reveals that these children have led harmfully unsettled lives being shifted among numerous foster homes due, at least in part, to the fact that the Alsagers' legal relationship to them is still in question. Once the...