A.D.B.H. v. Houston County Dhr

• Decision Date: 21 March 2008
• Docket Number: 2060699.
• Parties: A.D.B.H. v. HOUSTON COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES.
• Court: Alabama Court of Civil Appeals

1 So.3d 53

A.D.B.H. v. HOUSTON COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES.

2060699.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

March 21, 2008.

Rehearing Denied June 20, 2008.

Certiorari Denied August 8, 2008 Alabama Supreme Court 1071338.

Benjamin J. Freeman of Prim, Freeman & Mendheim, L.L.C., Dothan, for appellant.

Troy King, atty. gen., and Sharon E. Ficquette and Lynn S. Merrill, asst. attys. gen., Department of Human Resources, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

This is a termination-of-parental-rights case. On October 21, 2005, the Houston County Department of Human Resources petitioned to terminate A.D.B.H.'s parental rights to two of her children, J.B. and K.T. The Houston Juvenile Court held hearings on the petition on November 21, 2006, December 18, 2006, February 1, 2007, and March 13, 2007. The juvenile court terminated A.D.B.H.'s parental rights to J.B. and K.T. on April 5, 2007.

A.D.B.H. ("the mother") gave birth to J.B. on August 20, 1999, and to K.T. on February 20, 2002. In October 2002, the mother lost custody of her children—J.B., K.T., M.D., and K.M., who are all half siblings—after the Houston County Department of Human Resources ("DHR") concluded that the mother's home was unsafe and unsanitary. By the next month, the mother's father and stepmother ("the maternal grandparents") had obtained physical custody of all four children. In March 2003, the maternal grandfather also obtained legal custody of the children. However, the mother subsequently regained custody of the children in June 2003. Upon regaining custody of the children, the mother received family services through DHR. Despite the mother's having received those services, J.B. was transferred to a foster home in late 2003 because of severe behavioral problems.

Betty Faircloth, a DHR caseworker, testified that she became involved in the case in February 2004. At that time, three of the children were residing with the mother, while J.B., who had been diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder ("ADHD") and had been prescribed numerous medications to control his behavior, remained in a foster home. J.B. would visit with the family every other weekend from Friday to Monday morning. Faircloth testified that the mother routinely telephoned her at 8:00 a.m. on Monday mornings to request that she come and get J.B. because the mother could not handle his behavior, which included insomnia, violence towards his half sisters, and a disrespectful attitude. In addition, on several occasions, the mother, when she was upset, requested that Faircloth take all four children. Faircloth testified, however, that the mother was able to handle the other three children and that she wanted all of her children, but that the mother simply could not handle any conflict with J.B. and that she often failed to properly administer his medications despite her knowledge of their importance.

Faircloth testified that she attempted to keep the children with the mother as long as possible but that the children were removed from the mother's home in August 2004. Faircloth testified that the mother had failed to address the children's chronic head-lice problem, that another family had moved into the mother's home, and that the mother was leaving the children with neighbors or whomever would care for them. Faircloth testified that the home environment had become unsanitary and unsafe.

The three children who had been residing with the mother, including K.T., were initially transferred to a traditional foster home. In August 2004, M.D. was placed in the custody of her paternal grandmother. J.B. remained in a separate foster home until October 2004. Although the foster parents were able to control J.B. with the aid of his medications, the foster mother recommended in October 2004 that he be transferred to a therapeutic foster home that could better address his special behavioral problems.

Linda Shirey, J.B.'s therapist, testified that she had counseled J.B. approximately every other week since April 12, 2004. According to Shirey, when J.B. started therapy, he was developmentally behind and withdrawn, his speech was very hard to understand, he was very emotional, and he had a very short attention span. Shirey described him as "a disturbed child." Shirey testified that she had often attempted to integrate the mother into J.B.'s counseling sessions but that the mother had attended his sessions only twice. Shirey testified that the mother had a very negative effect on J.B., causing him "a lot of problems." Faircloth testified that she considered J.B. to be a "target child," who the mother, and even the half sisters, would blame for any problems the family encountered. During 2004, J.B. expressed sadness that he was not seeing his half sisters, but he never expressed similar feelings about not seeing his mother.

After the children were removed from her home in 2004, the mother received visitation rights that she exercised at DHR's offices. Faircloth testified that the mother would visit with all four children at the same time on a weekly basis for one hour and that, during that time, the mother would spend approximately 40 minutes on her cellular telephone. Sometimes she would be talking to B.B.T., K.T.'s father, or to her parents, and she would pass the telephone to the children so they could speak with them briefly. However, the mother would often spend most of her time talking on the telephone rather than visiting with the children. Sometimes she would be talking to a man to whom she was engaged who had never met the children. Faircloth testified that she felt the mother spent an inappropriate amount of time talking on the telephone rather than visiting with her children.

Judy Whatley, another caseworker, testified that she had observed the visitations between the mother and the children in 2004. Whatley testified that during the visits the mother spent 20 minutes to 1 hour on her cellular telephone speaking to someone in Spanish and that, as a result, there was very little interaction between the mother and the children. Whatley testified that M.D., who was nine years old at the time, would basically take care of the younger children, taking them to the bathroom, unwrapping their hamburgers, tying their shoes, and cleaning up after them, while the mother talked on the telephone. Whatley testified that the mother constantly questioned the children about what color they were, insisting that they were brown, not white.

Faircloth testified that in 2004 and 2005 the mother would make intermittent progress with the children but that, for every step forward, she would take two steps back. Faircloth worked with the mother on a daily basis to assist the mother with correcting the problems DHR had identified. The mother never progressed to the point at which the children could be returned to her, however.

In March 2005, J.B. was able to leave the therapeutic foster home and move to the traditional foster home with K.T. and K.M. At trial, Shirey testified that J.B. had blossomed since leaving the therapeutic foster home and that he was now a developmentally normal and happy child. She testified, however, that J.B. still had no attachment to the mother. Shirey also testified that J.B. remained very close to his half sisters.

In March 2006, the juvenile court awarded custody of K.M. to her father, who lived in Atlanta. In the custody order the juvenile court indicated that "there is no ordered visitation pending further order of the court." Based on this order, DHR suspended all visitation between the mother and K.M., as well as the other children. The mother did not petition to reinstate visitation, and, as a result, the mother did not visit with the children after March 2006. Before that, the mother had been consistent with visitation and telephone calls, although she had occasionally missed a visit.

Whatley testified that DHR offered many services to the mother in an attempt to rehabilitate her, including providing day-care services, food stamps, child support, financial support, Christmas presents, transportation, counseling and psychiatric services, domestic-violence services, psychological evaluations, parent coaching, and services through Family Options, but, she testified, the mother was resistant to DHR's efforts and failed to adjust to the needs of the children. Services were interrupted or halted because of noncompliance or other issues traceable to the mother.

According to Whatley's testimony, during the time Whatley oversaw the case, the mother never showed any stability. Whatley testified that since 1995 the mother had worked at 35 different jobs, working the longest for a grocery store for 6 months. Since 1998, the mother had lived at 39 different residences; however, the mother had lived at the same address in Headland since August 2005, although sometimes her mail would stack up, indicating that she was not staying there. The mother was combative and threatening to her caseworkers and at least one foster parent, but not to her children. The mother had been barred from J.B.'s pediatrician's office because of her failure to comply with the medical advice given for the children. The mother fed the children candy at visitations, although she had been cautioned that candy would make the children hyperactive. According to Whatley, the mother continued to be emotionally abusive to J.B., although she has never been physically abusive to any of her other children and the children had never exhibited any signs of physical injury. Whatley testified that the mother had not paid any child support since October 2005 and that a warrant had been issued for the mother's arrest for her having failed to appear in court on the child-support matter. The mother had no criminal history.

The Henry County Department of Human Resources ("the Henry County DHR") performed a home study on the mother's residence in October 2005. According to Whatley's testimony, the Henry County DHR...