In re C.K.H.
| Decision Date | 15 February 2023 |
| Docket Number | 01-22-00603-CV |
| Parties | IN THE INTEREST OF C.K.H., Y.M.C. AKA Y.M.C. AKA Y.C., N.I.C. AKA N.I.C., CHILDREN |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
On Appeal from the 314th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 2018-05116J
Panel consists of Justices Landau, Countiss, and Guerra.
Appellants H.M.P.H. ("Mother") and S.A.G.C ("Father") appeal the trial court's order terminating their parental rights to three children. Both Mother and Father contend (1) the termination order is void because the trial on the merits did not commence before the dismissal date in Section 263.401 of the Texas Family Code and (2) the evidence was legally and factually insufficient to support the termination of their parental rights and the appointment of the Department as the children's sole managing conservator. Mother also contends the trial court made certain evidence-related errors. Finding no error in the trial court's order, we affirm.
Mother has six children. Her rights to her oldest child, K.H., were previously terminated by another court. The termination order on appeal concerns three of Mother's other children: (1) C.K.H. ("Charlie") (born in 2008), (2) Y.M.C ("Yara") (born in 2014), and (3) N.I.C. ("Natalie") (born in 2015).[1] While the Department's petition to terminate Mother's parental rights as to these three children was pending, Mother moved to North Carolina and gave birth to twins, I.H. and J.H. The twins, who still reside out of state, are not the subject of this appeal. The trial court terminated Mother's parental rights only as to Charlie, Yara, and Natalie, who remained together in Texas foster care placements. Their placement at the time of trial included the possibility of adoption for all three children.
Father is the biological father of four of Mother's children: Yara, Natalie, and the twins. The trial court terminated Father's parental rights as to Yara and Natalie only. Charlie has a different biological father whose parental rights were also terminated, but he has not appealed.
Thus, we have before us only the termination of Mother's parental rights as to Charlie, Yara, and Natalie, and the termination of Father's parental rights as to Yara and Natalie. We refer collectively to Charlie, Yara, and Natalie as "the children."
As a parent, Mother has been involved with the Department for more than a decade. The Department investigated Mother twice in 2011, once after she was found unresponsive in a vehicle with Charlie, who was two years old, and a second time when she took Charlie to the hospital for a facial abrasion and appeared intoxicated. Investigations continued in 2012, when Mother's rights to her oldest child were terminated because, among other factors, Mother became addicted to prescription pain medication and exposed the child to domestic violence in her relationship with the child's father.
In 2017, Yara and Natalie were placed in the Department's care. At that time, Charlie resided with his biological father who has since been deported. The Department sought to be appointed Yara's and Natalie's temporary managing conservator because of Mother's "use of drugs and/or overuse of prescription medications" and Father's "failure to protect [Yara and Natalie] from [Mother]." In July 2018, the Department nonsuited its case against Mother and Father and supported family reunification.
But three months later, Yara and Natalie reentered the Department's care, together with Charlie. The Department had received three referrals in one month for neglectful supervision of the children. One referral alleged that Father was violent toward Yara and created a situation that could have injured Natalie, who is autistic and has special needs. The Department received another referral when Mother was taken to the hospital after a seizure, and no one was available to care for the children. The third referral alleged that Mother was walking with Yara and Natalie next to a road while she was "under the influence of some sort of powder," "incoherent," and not keeping Yara and Natalie away from traffic. The third referral also alleged that Mother left Charlie home alone and had not fed any of the children.
Trial court proceedings
The Department petitioned to terminate Mother's and Father's parental rights on October 23, 2018, and the trial court appointed the Department as the children's temporary managing conservator the same day. After granting a series of extensions of the one-year dismissal date in Texas Family Code Section 263.401, some of which were because of the COVID-19 pandemic,[2] the trial court conducted the trial over ten days between June 2, 2021, and July 18, 2022.
The Department asked the trial court to terminate Mother's and Father's parental rights because they "maintained a historical pattern of intertwined behaviors that jeopardized the children's welfare through ongoing domestic violence, improper use of drugs and alcohol unspecified health issues [that] impair[ed] [their] behaviors, instability, and failure to work with the agency." Among other things, the Department presented evidence that Mother experienced domestic violence in her relationship with each of the children's fathers, and that the children were exposed to that violence.
As to Father, the trial court admitted into the evidence several Houston Police Department ("HPD") incident reports, including one stating that Father assaulted Mother and threatened to kill Mother and Charlie in September 2018. The next month, Mother told the Department's investigator that Father had kicked Yara. The investigator asked Charlie about the incident. He told her that he "heard a lot of yelling" and had "tried to keep his sisters in the room [with him]," but "they got out of the room." Father "kicked [Yara] in the stomach," and Yara "fell back on top of [Natalie]." Although Mother recalled that Father went to jail for alleged injuries to the children, she claimed not to recall the details related to the charge.[3] Mother confirmed Father physically abused her.
At trial, both Mother and Father denied that they continued to have a romantic relationship or lived together. The evidence, however, included conflicting information about the nature and extent of their continued contacts and their intention to co-parent the children. The support system Mother developed by moving to North Carolina consisted of Father's family. Although Mother testified that she did not know where Father lived because he traveled often for work, she also testified that Father stayed with his sister in North Carolina when he was not traveling. Although Mother testified that she was well-qualified to obtain employment because of her training in various fields, she remained financially dependent on Father. Although Mother testified that she had some savings and anticipated receiving settlement proceeds from a car accident, Father paid for Mother's housing and expenses in North Carolina so that she could stay home with the twins. And Mother allowed Father to visit the twins in public places, while she was present. She explained that she did so because allowing Father unsupervised visits with the twins might put them at risk.
Mother and Father also denied ongoing substance abuse. Mother testified that she had not used prescription medication or any illegal substances since Yara was born in February 2014. But there was conflicting evidence on this subject too. The Department presented records from the Harris Center for Mental Health ("Harris Center") stating that Mother tested positive for cannabis and opiates in November 2015 and was "actively withdrawing" from opiates and benzos" in January 2017. Other records from 2017 state that Mother reported to the Harris Center that she was discharged from a housing assistance program after twice testing positive for opioids, once upon arrival and again the next day.
Both Mother and Father missed drug screenings after the children were removed, even though that was one of the actions they needed to take under the court-ordered family services plan to be reunited with the children. Mother testified that she missed the drug screenings because she was unable to leave the house for a time after being injured in a car accident on July 5, 2020. But she missed some screenings before that date.
Mother and Father each had at least one positive drug test result after the children were removed. Father tested positive for cocaine in December 2018. In August 2019, Mother tested positive for benzodiazepine and alprazolam, which she explained was because of prescription medication. And in March 2020, while pregnant with the twins, Mother tested positive for marijuana in urinalysis. Mother attributed the positive result to an over-the-counter cannabinoid ("CBD") product, which she testified she stopped using.
Mother denied that she was ever incoherent around the children because of drug use. She testified that she has suffered from a seizure disorder since she was a child and for which she takes medication. According to Mother, she becomes incoherent after a seizure. She presented testimony from a family friend, R. Drake, that she sought assistance caring for the children when she was ill. Mother testified that she parented the twins, who were still in her care, well; had adequate housing in North Carolina; participated in substance abuse counseling and therapy; took medication to manage her addiction; completed the individual therapy required by the Department; and had considered plans for the children's educational and therapeutic needs in the event of reunification. Father expressed that he did not intend to live with Mother and...
To continue reading
Request your trial