In re Le
| Decision Date | 12 February 2008 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 276924.,Docket No. 276925. |
| Parties | In re LE, Minor. Department of Human Services, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Earl Dwayne Davis, a/k/a Dwayne Davis, Respondent-Appellant and Karen Deneise Jordan, Respondent. In re LE, JL, JB, BG, KL, and TS, Minors. Department of Human Services, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Karen Deneise Jordan, Respondent-Appellant, and Earl Dwayne Davis, a/k/a Dwayne Davis, and Edward Lamont Patton, Respondents. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US |
David G. Gorcyca, Prosecuting Attorney, Joyce F. Todd, Chief, Appellate Division, and Danielle Walton, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Pontiac, for the Department of Human Services.
Cathy A. Greenberg, Guardian Ad Litem, Keego Harbor, for LE.
Karen Gullberg Cook, Beverly Hills, for Earl D. Davis.
Lee A. Somerville, Livonia, for Karen D. Jordan.
Before: WILDER, P.J., and MARK J. CAVANAGH and FORT HOOD, JJ.
In Docket No. 276924, respondent Earl Dwayne Davis appeals as of right the trial court's order terminating his parental rights to LE, under MCL 712A.19b(3)(g) (). In Docket No. 276925, respondent Karen Deneise Jordan (the mother) appeals as of right the same order terminating her parental rights to LE, and also to JB, TS, JL, KL,1 and BG, also known as T,2 under MCL 712A.19b(3)(c)(i) (), and (g) (failure to provide proper care and custody).3 The parental rights of Davis were terminated for failure to provide proper care, because he did not formally establish paternity until LE was approximately a year and a half old. Respondent mother's parental rights were terminated because she failed to attend court-ordered drug screens consistently and failed to obtain suitable housing. We affirm.
The children were taken into foster care on February 23, 2005, while the mother was in the hospital after LE's birth. The complaint by petitioner Department of Human Services (DHS) alleged that LE tested positive for cocaine at birth, and that TS and BG had also been born with cocaine in their systems. Davis later testified that he was on "the streets" from March to June 2005, and did not initially know about LE. Davis also later admitted that he had a substance-abuse problem at the time LE was born, and that he used drugs since he was 13 years old, drank daily, and used cocaine two or three times a month since he was 18 or 20 years old. Davis had convictions in Arkansas dating from 1992 to 1997. In 1994, Davis received a gunshot wound to the stomach, resulting in his receiving $625 a month in disability benefits. Davis had several Michigan convictions, for misdemeanors and felonies, from 1997 and 1998.
The agency's complaint alleged that the mother had no income, except $300 a month in child support; that the home was dirty, had no heat or electricity, and there was minimal food; and that the children were wearing dirty clothes and sleeping on dirty sheets on the living room floor. The mother had received various services in the past from the agency, including substance-abuse treatment, when two of her older children (not part of this case) were left home alone and burnt the house down while playing with matches.
On February 24, 2005, a preliminary hearing was held. Davis did not attend. But his mother, LE's paternal grandmother, Reena Mae Williams, did attend this hearing, indicating that she wanted to have LE placed in her home, but that she had been unable to locate Davis to sign an affidavit of paternity. The mother was granted visitation and ordered to submit to random drug screens.
On March 23, 2005, a pretrial conference was held. Davis attended, indicating that he wished to become LE's legal father. The mother confirmed that Davis was LE's biological father. The court then instructed Davis to take further action:
At this point in time the Court takes the position that you do not have standing to be represented by counsel here, to be a party in this action as you are the putative father. But if you were to take direct action to be made the legal father of this child by filing for paternity in this case, and if you're found to be the legal father, the Court will have you made a party and you will be represented by counsel. You are to perfect paternity with regard to [LE] within 14 days of today. So you can discuss this with the FIA after today's hearing as to what steps you should take. [Emphasis added.]
The court clarified that, because the mother stated that she was certain that Davis was the father, it was not ordering a paternity test, and that an affidavit of parentage, executed by the mother, would suffice.
At the March 2005 hearing, the mother pleaded no contest with regard to the allegations in the complaint. The court ordered psychological evaluations of the mother and the children who were over six years old, and continued the mother's random drug screens. The mother attended a psychological evaluation on May 12, 2005.
On May 23, 2005, a dispositional hearing was held. Davis did not appear. The mother signed a parent-agency agreement, requiring her to complete a substance-abuse program, continue random drug screens, obtain employment and suitable housing for all six children, and complete parenting classes. The court warned the mother that the evaluator was skeptical of her ability to remain drug-free, and that showing that she could do so was the most important goal.
On May 25, 2005, the mother's drug screen was positive, so her next visitation of the children (on June 3) was canceled. Sometime in June 2005, Davis was arrested for felonious assault. Later, he was convicted. Sometime in 2005, Davis was also convicted of retail fraud.
On June 3, 2005, another dispositional hearing was held. Davis did not appear. The court noted that it had instructed Davis to perfect paternity within 14 days, and that Davis had not done so. The court asked petitioner to contact Davis and determine whether he intended to perfect paternity, otherwise his rights to LE "may be cut off."
During a period in 2005, the mother submitted to drug screens during substance-abuse treatment at the PRISM program of Oakland County Family Services. In August 2005, the mother was referred to another drug-testing center, Jail Alternatives for Michigan, Services, L.L.C., (JAMS), for follow-up random screens. Also during August 2005, a new caseworker, Mandy Ryals, was assigned to the case, although the original caseworker, Lauren Hughes, apparently continued to work on the case at times.
On August 16, 2005, the mother ceased attending random drug screens. On August 29, 2005, a permanency planning hearing was held. It was reported that JB, JL, TS, and KL all had some behavioral issues and were in therapy. Another of the mother's visitations was canceled because of her failure to attend the substance-abuse program for three days (thus also missing her drug screens). The mother was referred for weekly random drug screens. She asked to be ordered to attend alcoholics anonymous/narcotics anonymous (AA/NA) meetings, to motivate her to go to her drug screens. The mother was supposed to begin working at McDonald's.
In September 2005, the mother told Hughes that Davis had been arrested. Hughes attempted to locate Davis on the offender tracking information system, but was unsuccessful.
In the beginning of October, the mother's visitations were suspended when Hughes learned of her failure to submit to drug screens since August 16, 2005. Visitations did not resume until January 2006, contingent on the mother's obtaining three negative drug screens.
On November 28, 2005, a dispositional hearing was held, which neither the mother nor Davis attended. The mother had provided verification that she was employed at a home health care agency. But she had not submitted to any random drug screens since October 10, 2005. The mother had also been inconsistent in seeing her therapist, attending only one session in November 2005, and had been dropped from the program.
On January 30, 2006, a permanency planning hearing was held, which the mother attended. No one had heard from Davis. The mother still did not have housing. Nonetheless, the agency asked for another 60 days to give her an opportunity to comply with the new drug-screen schedule. The court agreed, but warned the mother that it would "be looking very closely at what you do during the next two-month period."
On March 30, 2006, a review hearing was held at which Davis did not appear. The court noted that there had been no adjudication concerning Davis, but that one was not required. The mother appeared. Hughes noted that the mother had failed to appear for drug screens on February 7, 10, 18, and 23, 2006. The mother had lost her job because she stopped appearing for work, and her last day of work was February 2, 2006. The counseling report indicated that from December 17, 2005, to February 26, 2006, the mother had failed to attend five out of seven therapy sessions. The caseworker recommended a termination petition, and the court stated that one could be filed, but did not order the agency to do so. The court warned the mother that "if there is not close to perfect compliance we're likely looking at a situation where the Court is going to order that a petition be filed." The court warned the mother that she could not miss the drug screens.
In April or May 2006, the mother moved in with her sister, within walking distance of the JAMS drug-testing center. Nonetheless, the mother continued to miss some drug screens.
On June 9, 2006, a permanency planning hearing was held, at which the mother appeared. Davis did not appear. There had been no contact with Davis, and termination was recommended on the grounds of abandonment. The mother had missed almost half of her random weekly drug screens, on...
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