In re Daniel C.

• Decision Date: 15 May 2001
• Citation: 776 A.2d 487,63 Conn. App. 339
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: IN RE DANIEL C. ET AL.

63 Conn. App. 339

776 A.2d 487

IN RE DANIEL C. ET AL.¹

(AC 20034), (AC 20035)

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued October 31, 2000.

Officially released May 15, 2001.

Landau, Mihalakos and Daly, Js. Mary Ann Barile, for the appellant (respondent mother).

Mildred Doody, for the appellant (respondent father).

Gregory T. D' Auria, assistant attorney general, with whom were Paula D. Sullivan, assistant attorney general, and, on the brief, Richard Blumenthal, attorney general, and Carolyn K. Querijero, assistant attorney general, for the appellee (petitioner).

Opinion

DALY, J.

In these consolidated appeals,² the respondent father appeals (20035) from the judgments terminating his parental rights with respect to his two children, D and K, and the respondent mother appeals (20034) from the judgment terminating her parental rights with respect to D.³ On appeal, the respondents claim that the trial court improperly (1) denied the respondent father's motion to strike portions of the termination petitions filed by the petitioner, the commissioner of children and families (commissioner), and granted the coterminous petitions for neglect and the termination of parental rights on the basis of failure to achieve personal rehabilitation in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 1997) § 17a-112 (c) (3) (B),⁴ (2) denied their motions for an independent psychological evaluation in violation of their due process rights, (3) found that termination was in the best interests of the minor children and (4) denied the respondents' motions for contempt. We affirm the judgments of the trial court.

The following facts and procedural history are relevant to this appeal. The respondents, who are married and the biological parents of D and K, both have long personal histories of substance and alcohol abuse, and domestic violence. On July 3, 1989, the respondent mother, while pregnant with D, overdosed on heroin and, as a result, gave birth to D prematurely. Shortly after D's birth, in October, 1989, the respondents were arrested for disorderly conduct following a domestic dispute. At the time of their arrest, the respondents were extremely intoxicated. Due to the respondents' alcohol abuse and domestic violence, the department of children and families (department) removed D from the respondents' care under a ninety-six hour hold on October 3, 1989. On October 6, 1989, the trial court entered an order of temporary custody, and the commissioner soon thereafter filed a neglect petition pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1997) § 46b-129.⁵ D was adjudicated neglected in February, 1990, and remained in the custody of the commissioner until November 16, 1990. While D was in foster care, the respondents attended couple's counseling and entered into substance abuse treatment programs. D returned to the care of the respondents under an order of protective supervision that was rescinded on April 25, 1991. The court also ordered expectations that required, in part, that the respondents remain alcohol and drug free, and participate in counseling for their domestic violence and substance abuse.

On December 16, 1991, K was born. By April, 1995, the department again became involved with the respondents after it discovered that the respondents had resumed abusing alcohol and substances in the home and also had engaged in domestic violence. On April 17, 1995, the department removed K and D from the respondents' care and placed the children in foster homes, pursuant to an order of temporary custody. Both children were adjudicated neglected on December 15, 1995, but returned to the respondents' care soon thereafter under protective supervision. Again, the court-ordered expectations requiring that the respondents, in part, refrain from abusing alcohol and substances, attend drug and alcohol treatment programs, participate in the Coordinating Counsel for Children in Crisis parent aide program (4 C's program), and secure adequate housing and a source of income.

A few weeks later, on January 31, 1996, the respondent mother notified the department that she and her husband had relapsed and were abusing substances, which rendered them incapable of caring for D and K. New orders of temporary custody were issued on February 2, 1996, and the department removed the children from the respondents' care and placed them in foster homes. The court modified the December 15, 1995 neglect adjudication on May 21, 1996. While D and K lived in foster care, the respondents sought alcohol and substance abuse treatment pursuant to the department's recommendations. After remaining in foster care for fifteen months, D and K returned to the respondents' home on May 21, 1997, under a six month order of protective supervision with expectations. Again, expectations were set that the respondents abstain from abusing alcohol and substances.

In March, 1998, the department received a complaint from the principal of the school that D and K attended, stating that he suspected that the respondent mother was abusing substances and that she had stopped bringing the children to school. The department also received a referral from a West Haven police officer, who had arrested the respondent mother for risk of injury to children after she had left D and K alone in their yard and had locked them out of the house.

On April 6, 1998, D fled his home to a neighbor's house after the respondents had engaged in a physical fight and after the respondent mother repeatedly had struck D and K across their faces. The neighbor immediately called the police. When the police arrived, they found garbage strewn throughout the respondents' house and the respondents both highly intoxicated. The respondent mother also had bruises and cuts on her face, while D had red marks over his body from being slapped. The police arrested the respondents for breach of the peace, and the respondent mother, additionally, for risk of injury to a child.

The department investigated the respondents' home on April 6, 1998, and found it dirty and smelling of alcohol. The respondent father stated to a department employee that his altercation with the respondent mother had begun because he had recently been fired from his job for stealing money from his employer to support his wife's heroin habit. He reported that he had been continually drunk since losing his job. The respondent mother also stated that since March, 1998, she had been ingesting one to two bags of heroin a day. The respondent mother also revealed that her longest period of sobriety in her adult life was for twenty-one months, while the respondent father claimed that at one time he had been sober for twenty-two consecutive months.

The department placed a ninety-six hour hold on the children. On April 9, 1998, the commissioner filed petitions for neglect and was granted temporary custody of the two children. The neglect petitions were based on the respondent mother's alcohol and heroin abuse, the respondent father's alcohol abuse and domestic violence. On May 14, 1998, the commissioner filed petitions for the termination of the respondents' parental rights regarding D and K on the grounds that (1) each child had been adjudicated neglected in a prior proceeding and the respondent parents had failed to achieve personal rehabilitation pursuant to § 17a-112 (c) (3) (B) and (2) each "child has been denied, by reason of an act or acts of parental commission or omission, the care, guidance or control necessary for his physical, educational, moral or emotional well-being" pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1997) § 17a-112 (c) (3) (C). The commissioner further alleged that the respondent mother's parental rights as to K should be terminated because, pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1997) § 17a-112 (c) (3) (E), K was a neglected child under the age of seven years, the respondent has failed to achieve personal rehabilitation and the respondent mother's rights to another child were previously terminated.⁶ The commissioner then filed a motion to consolidate the neglect and termination of parental rights petitions, which was granted on September 16, 1998.

A three day trial ensued in June, 1999. At the trial, the court heard testimony from department workers and supervisors, psychologist Bruce Freedman, the respondent father, police officers and the respondents' substance abuse counselors, among others. On July 22, 1999, in its memorandum of decision, the court determined that D and K were neglected and that "[t]he fighting, physical abuse, intoxication of both parents and heroin abuse by the mother rendered [the respondents] unable to provide a safe and nurturing home for their children."

The court further found that the commissioner had proved by clear and convincing evidence that D and K are minor children who already have been adjudicated neglected and that the respondent father had "failed to achieve such degree of personal rehabilitation, considering the age and needs of [D and K], respectively, as would encourage the belief that he could assume a responsible position in either of their lives." As to the respondent mother's parental rights in K, the court concluded that the commissioner had "proven by clear and convincing evidence that [K] was under age seven years at the filing of the petition, and had already been adjudicated neglected, and her mother ... has failed to achieve such degree of personal rehabilitation, considering the age and needs of [K], as would encourage the belief that she could assume a responsible position in the life of [K], and [respondent mother's] parental rights of two other children were previously terminated...." The court also found that the commissioner had "proven by clear and convincing evidence that [D] has previously been adjudicated neglected and his mother... has failed to achieve such degree of personal rehabilitation, considering the age and needs of [D] as would encourage the belief that she could assume a...