HMH v. State(In re SMH)

• Decision Date: 21 December 2012
• Docket Number: No. S–12–0094.,S–12–0094.
• Citation: 290 P.3d 1104
• Parties: In the Matter of the Termination of the Parental Rights to SMH, KDH, MJH, and APH, Minor Children. HMH, a/k/a HM and HB, Appellant (Respondent), v. State of Wyoming, Department of Family Services, Appellee (Petitioner).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

290 P.3d 1104

In the Matter of the Termination of the Parental Rights to SMH, KDH, MJH, and APH, Minor Children.HMH, a/k/a HM and HB, Appellant (Respondent),

v.State of Wyoming, Department of Family Services, Appellee (Petitioner).

No. S–12–0094.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

Dec. 21, 2012.

Representing Appellant: John C. Abraham, Liberty Law Offices, P.C., Gillette, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee: Gregory A. Phillips, Attorney General; Robin Sessions Cooley, Deputy Attorney General; Jill E. Kucera, Senior Assistant Attorney General. Argument by Ms. Kucera.

Guardian Ad Litem: Stacey L. Obrecht and Dan S. Wilde, Wyoming Guardian Ad Litem Program, Cheyenne, Wyoming. Argument by Mr. Wilde.

Before KITE, C.J., and HILL, VOIGT, BURKE, and DAVIS, JJ.

BURKE, Justice.

[¶ 1] Appellant, HMH (Mother), appeals from the district court's order terminating her parental rights pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 14–2–309(a)(iii) and (a)(v). She contends there was insufficient evidence to support the district court's decision. We affirm.

ISSUE

[¶ 2] Mother presents the following issue for our consideration: ¹

Was the district court's finding that parental rights to the minor children should be terminated established by clear and convincing evidence?

The Department of Family Services (DFS) and the children's guardian ad litem state the issue in a substantially similar manner.

FACTS

[¶ 3] Appellant is the mother of MJH, born in 1999, SMH, born in 2001, KDH, born in 2003, and APH, born in 2005.² After living most of her life in Michigan, Mother relocated with her children in 2007 to Buffalo, Wyoming, where her father resides. While living in Michigan with her children, Mother abused prescription drugs and used heroin on a daily basis. According to Mother, she eventually treated her heroin addiction through methadone therapy and moved to Wyoming with the hope of turning her life around. Following the family's move to Wyoming, however, Mother's substance abuse issues continued. Mother began a relationship with EW, whose behavior had been addressed “religiously” by Buffalo law enforcement for several years prior to Mother's arrival. Approximately one month after meeting EW, Mother and her children moved into an apartment with him. Mother's substance abuse during her habitation with EW eventually led to DFS's involvement in this case.

[¶ 4] DFS initially offered services to Mother in August, 2008, after receiving a report expressing concerns about her drug use. Mother refused this offer of services. Subsequently, in October, 2008, and again in January, 2009, DFS received reports that Mother's children had been locked outside of her home for an extended period, unsupervised, and without proper attire. In response to the January incident, DFS offered parenting services to Mother, which she accepted. At that time, DFS enrolled Mother in parenting classes and provided assistance to Mother in filling out a subsidized housing application, finding employment, and obtaining a driver's license. DFS also initiated counseling services for all four of Mother's children.

[¶ 5] On April 2, 2009, Mother attended a parenting class at the DFS office in Buffalo with her sister. Mother had difficulty staying awake at the class, her speech was slurred, and her movements were slow. Law enforcement was called, and Mother reported to officers of the Buffalo Police Department that she had taken Xanax and methadone pursuant to her prescriptions. After the officers discovered that Mother had recently filled two methadone prescriptions, Mother reported that one of her prescriptions had been stolen while she was out of state. During a subsequent search of Mother's home, however, the officers found the prescription that Mother claimed had been stolen. Mother was placed under arrest for interference with a peace officer, use of a controlled substance, and deception in purchasing prescription medication. At the time of Mother's arrest, EW was serving a jail term as the result of a third conviction for driving while under the influence.

[¶ 6] Upon Mother's arrest, the Buffalo Police Department took her children into protective custody and DFS subsequently placed them in non-relative foster care. At that time, it was discovered that all of the children had significant dental and vision needs that had not been addressed. Each of the children required multiple visits to the dentist to have teeth pulled and to have crowns placed on cavities. Mother's youngest child, APH, required oral surgery for his dental needs. All four of the children required glasses. Additionally, after receiving medical exams, SMH and KDH were diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and were placed on prescription medications.

[¶ 7] The county attorney filed a neglect petition in juvenile court on April 6, 2009. Mother eventually admitted to the allegations of neglect, stating in a stipulated order that she “failed and was otherwise unable to provide adequate care and supervision of her minor children.” The order provided that Mother's children would remain in foster care and would be returned to her after she obtained acceptable housing and completed one month of consecutive drug tests yielding clean results. The order also required that Mother successfully complete an intensive outpatient drug abuse treatment program, that she continue individual counseling, and that she follow all recommendations for additional services provided by her treatment facility. A DFS caseworker developed a family service plan, echoing the requirements of the stipulated order, and a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) was organized to review the requirements of the plan and make recommendations relating to Mother's rehabilitation and the care of her children. The case plan identified a goal of reunification for Mother and her children.

[¶ 8] While Mother was in jail following her arrest, DFS coordinated a substance abuse evaluation. Pursuant to the recommendation of her substance abuse evaluator, Mother entered an inpatient treatment program in Sheridan upon her release. After only eighteen days in treatment, however, Mother left the inpatient program against staff advice. Her discharge summary from the program recommended successful completion of the inpatient treatment program followed by completion of an intensive outpatient treatment program. Mother enrolled in an outpatient treatment program in June, 2009, but she was subsequently dropped from the program due to her sporadic participation.

[¶ 9] At the beginning of October, despite Mother's failure to complete a substance abuse treatment program, Mother was reunified with her children after she obtained suitable housing and submitted one month of clean drug tests. However, on October 23, both Mother and EW violated probation by testing positive for methamphetamine. Mother and EW were arrested and placed in detention the following day. The children were again removed from Mother's home and, after living with Mother's father for a short period, DFS placed the children in non-relative foster care. During the three weeks that the children were in Mother's home, the children did not attend their individual counseling appointments and did not receive their prescription medications.

[¶ 10] After the children returned to foster care, MJH reported to the family doctor that EW had hit his brothers, and SMH reported that EW had played with his penis. In November, SMH, who was eight years old at the time, was admitted to the Wyoming Behavioral Institute (WBI) for an evaluation and medical assessment. SMH returned to WBI in April, after exhibiting suicidal tendencies. At that time, he received several mental health diagnoses, including major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder. In May, SMH was placed in residential treatment, where, through weekly therapy sessions, he reported that he had been physically and sexually abused by EW. SMH told his psychologist that he did not want to go home as long as EW was in the house, and that he did not want to go home if his mother was drinking or using drugs.

[¶ 11] MJH, KDH, and APH also manifested symptoms of mental health problems in individual counseling sessions, and all were eventually diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and adjustment disorders by their mental health counselor. Additionally, all of the children expressed fear of EW. When Mother was informed of her children's statements relating physical and sexual abuse by EW, she “adamantly denied” that such abuse had occurred.

[¶ 12] While Mother was in jail following her probation violation, DFS developed a new case plan which required Mother to live her life free of drugs, complete an inpatient substance abuse treatment program, and obtain housing and employment upon her release from jail. The new case plan included a goal of adoption concurrent to the goal of reunification. Mother's visitation with the children continued under the new case plan, and was conducted via phone and jail visits while Mother was incarcerated. During this time, the children began demonstrating signs of anxiety before, during, and after visitation. As a result of his emotional state, APH became incontinent and broke out in hives before and after visitation. Both APH and KDH manifested their anxiety by chewing on their shirts. SMH was given the choice whether to participate in visitation every week due to the stress it induced. In one particularly disturbing episode, after feeling that he had been ignored by Mother during a phone visitation, MJH had a meltdown at school in which he wrote on the bathroom wall with his own feces.

[¶ 13] Upon her release from jail, Mother entered an inpatient treatment program in Casper, which she completed in February. Mother's discharge summary from the treatment program recommended that she complete a community-based outpatient treatment program and that she submit to random urinalysis testing. How...