In re DF

• Decision Date: 18 December 2003
• Docket Number: No. 94479.,94479.
• Citation: 280 Ill.Dec. 549,802 N.E.2d 800,208 Ill.2d 223
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Parties: In re D.F. et al., Minors (The People of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Lashawn F., Appellant).

802 N.E.2d 800

208 Ill.2d 223

280 Ill.Dec. 549

In re D.F. et al., Minors (The People of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Lashawn F., Appellant).

No. 94479.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

December 18, 2003.

Rita A. Fry and Edwin A. Burnette, Public Defenders, Chicago (Karen Margaret Florek, Assistant Public Defender, of counsel), for appellant.

Lisa Madigan, Attorney General, Springfield, and Richard A. Devine, State's Attorney, Chicago (Linda D. Woloshin, Assistant Attorney General, Chicago, and Renee Goldfarb, Nancy Grauer Kisicki and Peter Maltese, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

Patrick T. Murphy, Charles P. Golbert and Kass A. Plain, of the Office of the Cook County Public Guardian, Chicago (Amy Halbrook, law student), for appellee minors.

Justice FITZGERALD delivered the opinion of the court:

In this appeal we must determine the proper time frame during which a parent's conduct will be assessed for purposes of deciding whether that parent is "unfit," under the grounds set forth in section 1(D)(m) of the Adoption Act (750 ILCS 50/1(D)(m) (West 2000)). The appellate court determined that the proper time frame is the nine-month period following the trial court's adjudication of neglect, abuse, or dependency, and upheld the trial court's finding of unfitness. 332 Ill.App.3d 112, 265 Ill.Dec. 568, 772 N.E.2d 939. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

Respondent, Lashawn F., is the mother of two children born July 25, 1992, and March 27, 1994. A telephone call to the child abuse hot line in September 1994 brought the family to the attention of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Following investigation, in January 1995, DCFS took temporary custody of the children, and the State filed a petition for adjudication of wardship in the Cook County circuit court. At the adjudicatory hearing on June 16, 1995, the circuit court entered a finding that the children were abused and neglected. The court noted that both children tested positive for cocaine at birth and that respondent's drug use and mental condition created an injurious environment and substantial risk of harm to the children. At the dispositional hearing on February 14, 1996, the circuit court adjudged the children wards of the court and placed guardianship in DCFS. The children were subsequently placed in foster care with a relative of respondent.

On November 1, 1999, the State filed a supplemental petition for appointment of a guardian with right to consent to adoption, i.e., a petition to terminate respondent's parental rights. At the time the petition was filed, respondent had recently begun serving a three-year sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections for possession of a stolen vehicle. A hearing to determine whether respondent was an unfit parent under the various grounds alleged by the State commenced August 18, 2000. Evidence indicated that prior to her incarceration in 1999, respondent had maintained contact with her children but had failed to engage in any recommended services, including drug rehabilitation. The circuit court found respondent unfit pursuant to section 1(D)(m) of the Adoption Act, in that she failed to make "reasonable efforts" to correct the conditions which were the basis for the removal of her children, and failed to make "reasonable progress" toward their return. See 750 ILCS 50/1(D)(m) (West 2000). The circuit court determined, however, that it was not in the best interests of the children that respondent's parental rights be terminated.

Respondent appealed the circuit court's finding of unfitness, arguing that the court assessed her conduct during the wrong time frames. In finding respondent unfit under section 1(D)(m), the circuit court considered evidence only of respondent's efforts and progress during the nine-month period following its June 16, 1995, adjudication of abuse and neglect. Respondent maintained, however, that the proper date to begin assessing her efforts and progress was the date the circuit court entered its dispositional order: February 14, 1996. Respondent further maintained that although evidence of her progress toward the return of her children was limited to the nine-month period beginning February 14, 1996, evidence of her efforts to correct the conditions which led to the children's removal was not limited to that nine-month period. Rather, the circuit court should have considered evidence of her efforts from February 14, 1996, through August 18, 2000—the date of the fitness hearing. According to respondent, had the circuit court considered evidence of her conduct during this 54-month period, the court would not have found her unfit. The appellate court rejected respondent's arguments and affirmed the judgment of the circuit court. 332 Ill. App.3d 112, 265 Ill.Dec. 568, 772 N.E.2d 939. We allowed respondent's petition for leave to appeal (see 177 Ill.2d R. 315) and now affirm.

ANALYSIS

In a proceeding to terminate parental rights under the Juvenile Court Act of 1987, the State must first demonstrate, by clear and convincing evidence, that the parent is "unfit" under one or more of the grounds set forth in section 1(D) of the Adoption Act (750 ILCS 50/1(D) (West 2000)). 705 ILCS 405/2-29(2) (West 2000); In re C.W., 199 Ill.2d 198, 210, 262 Ill.Dec. 802, 766 N.E.2d 1105 (2002). In the present case, the State alleged that respondent was unfit under the grounds contained in section 1(D)(m). At the time the State filed its petition to terminate respondent's parental rights (November 1999), section 1(D)(m) defined unfitness in relevant part as:

"Failure by a parent to make reasonable efforts to correct the conditions that were the basis for the removal of the child from the parent, or to make reasonable progress toward the return of the child to the parent within 9 months after an adjudication of neglected or abused minor under Section 2-3 of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 or dependent minor under Section 2-4 of that Act." 750 ILCS 50/1(D)(m) (West 1998).

On January 1, 2000, two months after the State filed its petition, an earlier legislative amendment to section 1(D)(m), adopted in 1999, took effect, See Pub. Act 91-373, eff. January 1, 2000. The 2000 version of section 1(D)(m) defines unfitness in relevant part as:

"Failure by a parent (i) to make reasonable efforts to correct the conditions that were the basis for the removal of the child from the parent, or (ii) to make reasonable progress toward the return of the child to the parent within 9 months after an adjudication of neglected or abused minor under Section 2-3 of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 or dependent minor under Section 2-4 of that Act, or (iii) to make reasonable progress toward the return of the child to the parent during any 9-month period after the end of the initial 9-month period following the adjudication of neglected or abused minor under Section 2-3 of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 or dependent minor under Section 2-4 of that Act." 750 ILCS 50/1(D)(m) (West 2000).

Thus, the 2000 version of the statute included a third possible ground of unfitness. The wording of the earlier reasonable-efforts and reasonable-progress grounds, however, remained unchanged, with the exception that Roman numerals had been added. The parties agree that the 2000 version of section 1(D)(m), which was in effect at the time of the fitness hearing, is applicable to this case.

Our primary objective in construing section 1(D)(m) is to give effect to the intent of the legislature. See C.W., 199 Ill.2d at 211, 262 Ill.Dec. 802, 766 N.E.2d 1105. The most reliable indicator of the legislature's intent is the language of the statute, which must be given its plain and ordinary meaning. In re Mary Ann P., 202 Ill.2d 393, 405, 269 Ill.Dec. 440, 781 N.E.2d 237 (2002). Where the language is clear and unambiguous, it will be given effect without resort to other aids of construction. Mary Ann P., 202 Ill.2d at 405, 269 Ill.Dec. 440, 781 N.E.2d 237; C.W., 199 Ill.2d at 211, 262 Ill.Dec. 802, 766 N.E.2d 1105. We review the appellate court's interpretation of this statute de novo. See In re C.N., 196 Ill.2d 181, 208, 256 Ill.Dec. 788, 752 N.E.2d 1030 (2001).

Respondent first argues that the appellate court erred when it concluded that the nine-month period to assess a parent's fitness applies to both the reasonable-efforts ground in subsection (i) and the reasonable-progress ground in subsection (ii). Respondent maintains that the legislature intended, with its amendment in 1999, to "overhaul" section 1(D)(m) by "removing the rigid nine-month evaluation period in the reasonable efforts ground," and that this is evident from the phraseology and construction of the 2000 statute. That is, the 2000 version "sets forth three separate enumerated grounds, specifying a time period for the second and third but not the first." In re D.F., 317 Ill.App.3d 461, 464-65, 251 Ill.Dec. 230, 740 N.E.2d 60 (2000).¹

A plain language or literal reading of section 1(D)(m) supports respondent's position that the nine-month evaluation period applies only to a parent's reasonable progress and not a parent's reasonable efforts. A court, however, is not bound by the literal language of a statute that produces a result inconsistent with clearly expressed legislative intent, or that yields absurd or unjust consequences not contemplated by the legislature. People v. Hanna, 207 Ill.2d 486, 497-98, 279 Ill.Dec. 618, 800 N.E.2d 1201 (2003); In re Detention of Lieberman, 201 Ill.2d 300, 312, 319, 267 Ill.Dec. 81, 776 N.E.2d 218 (2002); Collins v. Board of Trustees of Firemen's Annuity & Benefit Fund, 155 Ill.2d 103, 112, 183 Ill.Dec. 6, 610 N.E.2d 1250 (1993); see also People v. Hudson, 46 Ill.2d 177, 181, 263 N.E.2d 473 (1970) (rules of statutory construction must yield when intent of legislature is otherwise indicated). A literal reading of section 1(D)(m) yields a result inconsistent with the legislature's...