Donte A., In re, s. 1-91-0779

• Decision Date: 08 March 1994
• Docket Number: 1-91-0783,Nos. 1-91-0779,1-91-0793,s. 1-91-0779
• Citation: 631 N.E.2d 257,259 Ill.App.3d 246,197 Ill.Dec. 254
• Parties: , 197 Ill.Dec. 254 In re DONTE A., et al., Minors (The Department of Children and Family Services, Petitioner and Cross-Respondent-Appellee, v. Charlene T., Respondent (Donte A., et al., Minors, Cross-Petitioners-Appellants)).
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

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631 N.E.2d 257 259 Ill.App.3d 246, 197 Ill.Dec. 254 In re DONTE A., et al., Minors (The Department of Children
and Family Services, Petitioner and
Cross-Respondent-Appellee, v. Charlene T., Respondent (Donte
A., et al., Minors, Cross-Petitioners-Appellants)). Nos. 1-91-0779, 1-91-0783, 1-91-0793. Appellate Court of Illinois,
First District, Second Division. March 8, 1994.

[259 Ill.App.3d 247] Patrick T. Murphy, Michael G. Dsida, Office of Cook County Public guardian, Chicago, for appellant.

Roland Burris, Atty. Gen., State of Illinois, Rosalyn B. Kaplan, Sol. Gen., Chicago, Jeffrey W. Finke, Sp. Asst., Raleigh & Helms, Chicago, for appellee.

Presiding Justice DiVITO delivered the opinion of the court:

The question this case presents is whether, when appointing a guardian with the power to consent to adoption, the circuit court has

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[197 Ill.Dec. 255] the authority to limit that power by requiring the guardian to provide pre-adoption sibling visitation and to consent to adoption only if the prospective adopting family agrees to reasonable post-adoption sibling visitation. For the reasons that follow, we hold that it does not.

The events leading to this appeal began in January 1985, when the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) was awarded custody of Donte, David, Dewon, Derrick, and Demarcus A., after petitioning for adjudication of wardship for all five boys. The two youngest, Demarcus and Dewon, were allowed to remain with their mother, Charlene T., under an order of protection; the other three were ordered temporarily into DCFS custody, but within a week were returned to their mother under an order of protection. Three months later, DCFS petitioned for and obtained custody of all five children because the mother had not attended substance abuse programs and, in violation of the order of protection, had used excessive corporal punishment. Some time prior to August 1986, the boys were placed in three foster homes: Derrick and David in one, Donte in another, and Demarcus and Dewon in a third. On November 17, 1987, after a hearing, the circuit court entered dispositional orders giving DCFS custody and guardianship of the five boys, with their parents' agreement. Few visits among the children or between the children and either parent occurred in the subsequent year, despite repeated court orders that DCFS arrange such visits and a DCFS caseworker's ready acknowledgement, at one of the interim hearings, that it "had been remiss in keeping with a regular visiting schedule with all the minors."

Just before Christmas 1988, the boys filed a supplemental petition asking the court to order DCFS to provide, at a minimum, monthly visits among them, and to allow regular telephone contact. At the hearing the next month, a caseworker from another agency, which had responsibility for two of the children, testified that attempts had been made to bring the children together, but that all [259 Ill.App.3d 248] but one such attempt had been cancelled due to illness or similar events. The court refused to enter the order requested, and it suggested that the children file another supplemental petition in the future if no visits took place. Over objections by the attorneys for the mother and the children, the court also transferred the matter to the guardianship calendar, a less active call with no scheduled review.

About six months later, in June 1989, DCFS filed supplemental petitions for four of the children, requesting termination of the mother's parental rights and appointment of Gary T. Morgan, the DCFS Guardianship Administrator, as guardian with the right to consent to their adoption. The boys' father had died. In reply, the four boys filed cross-petitions, asking the court to find that it was in their best interests to have semi-monthly visits with one another and with Donte, and to order Morgan to provide such visits while he was their guardian. The cross-petitions also asked that if the court granted the DCFS petitions, it simultaneously order Morgan to refrain from consenting to adoption by anyone unwilling or unable to make such arrangements. DCFS did not file a petition to terminate the mother's parental rights as to Donte, but he too filed a supplemental petition, asking for visitation.

The hearing on the DCFS petitions began on July 17, 1990. Generally, the testimony was that sibling visits were in the boys' best interests. For example, Dennis McGuire, a social worker and therapist, testified for the minors as an expert on the role of sibling relationships in a child's development. In his opinion, arrangements should have been made for the children to see each other at least twice a month, and any pending adoption process would be unaffected, or helped if anything, by such visitation, even though traditionally it was recommended that a child "never look back" to their biological families after adoption. McGuire had not met the children prior to the day of his testimony, but he had read the DCFS treatment plan and a two- or three-year-old social summary to familiarize himself with the children's circumstances. Likewise, Donald Edgren, the DCFS caseworker for the children for a number of years, testified that in his opinion, "it is in the best interest of children generally

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[197 Ill.Dec. 256] to have visitation with each other" when siblings cannot be placed with the same family. He testified that various DCFS service plans had included a task to arrange sibling visits to maintain family contact, but that few visits had occurred. He too mentioned difficulty in arranging visits with the parents. In addition, Sidney Goldberg, the DCFS caseworker for Donte since May 1989, testified that he believed that it was in Donte's best interest to have sibling visitation with his brothers even if the others were adopted or he was adopted, saying, [259 Ill.App.3d 249] "[t]o me[,] it is as basic as eating lunch." In the opinion of Jeanna Ogwude, the Volunteers of America caseworker for David and Derrick since December 1989, it was in the best interest of the two boys that Morgan be appointed guardian with power to consent to adoption, for their foster parents wanted to adopt them;...