In re G.C.
| Citation | 501 P.3d 420 (Table) |
| Decision Date | 11 January 2022 |
| Docket Number | DA 21-0281 |
| Parties | In the MATTER OF: G.C., A Youth in Need of Care. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Montana |
For Appellant Mother: Shannon Hathaway, Driscoll Hathaway Law Group, Missoula, Montana
For Appellant Father: Meri K. Althauser, Forward Legal, PLLC, Missoula, Montana
For Appellee: Austin Knudsen, Montana Attorney General, Katie F. Schulz, Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Montana
Eileen Joyce, Butte-Silver Bow County Attorney, Mark Vucurovich, Special Deputy County Attorney, Butte, Montana
¶1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(c), Montana Supreme Court Internal Operating Rules, this case is decided by memorandum opinion and shall not be cited and does not serve as precedent. Its case title, cause number, and disposition shall be included in this Court's quarterly list of noncitable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and Montana Reports.
¶2 M.Y. (Mother) and J.C. (Father) separately appeal from the Second Judicial District Court's May 17, 2021 orders terminating their parental rights to G.C. pursuant to § 41-3-609(1)(f), MCA. We affirm.
¶3 G.C. was born in September 2018, around one month after Mother and Father relinquished parental rights to her sibling after the Department of Public Health and Human Services (Department) filed for termination. Both Mother and Father have struggled for years with addiction. At the time of G.C.’s birth, Mother was on probation for meth possession. In November 2018, when G.C. was two months old, Mother missed her required urinalysis (UA). G.C. was voluntarily placed with a relative until Mother could demonstrate sobriety and receive services. G.C. was returned to Mother's care in February 2019.
¶4 Only one month later, Mother's probation-required UA tested positive for meth. This triggered G.C.’s official removal. The Department filed a petition for emergency protective services, adjudication as a youth in need of care, and temporary legal custody on March 19, 2019. In its supporting affidavit, the Department documented Mother's drug use, a history of domestic violence between the couple, and Father's "erratic" and "defensive" responses to investigator questions about his efforts to protect G.C. and keep her away from Mother when Mother was using. The Department also chronicled Father's resistance to UA testing and noted both parents would need to demonstrate sobriety and protective parenting before G.C. could be returned.
¶5 At the May 21, 2019 show cause hearing, Mother stipulated to the adjudication of G.C. and the Department's temporary legal custody. Because Father's counsel had yet to meet with him, the District Court agreed to a second show cause hearing to address Father on June 5, 2019. At the June hearing, the Department motioned to amend its petition from temporary legal custody to temporary investigative authority, and Father stipulated. The court's June 10, 2019 order granted the Department temporary investigative authority for 90 days and continued the emergency protective services granted in its March 20, 2019 order to show cause.
¶6 G.C. was returned to her parents’ care in June 2019 and remained there until October 2019. While G.C. was with her parents, Mother's treatment plan was approved by the District Court, and the Department's temporary investigative authority expired.
¶7 On October 1, 2019, the Department received a report that Mother had relapsed into meth use. The Department filed a new petition for emergency protective services, adjudication as a youth in need of care, and temporary legal custody on October 9, 2019. Mother admitted her relapse to the Department. Both parents delayed in submitting Department-requested UAs. Father then tried to submit someone else's urine for a UA and admitted to using unprescribed Adderall. Both parents admitted domestic violence was occurring in the home. The Department determined both parents were actively using methamphetamine and had engaged in domestic violence. The Department also found Father lied about moving out with G.C. when Mother relapsed and had left G.C. in Mother's care while Mother was using.
¶8 Also in October, Mother spent three days at the Montana Chemical Dependency Center (MCDC). She left against medical advice and was subsequently arrested on a probation violation for walking away. She was with Father at the time of her arrest and admitted he was a trigger for her relapse and that the two had used meth together in the days prior.
¶9 The District Court issued an order to show cause on October 16, 2019, which granted emergency protective services and temporary legal custody to the Department. That order held G.C.’s immediate danger warranted her removal and out-of-home placement. The court issued a nunc pro tunc order on October 21, 2019, that noted the previous hearing on June 5 and continued the grant of emergency protective services from its March 20, 2019 order.
¶10 At the show cause hearing on October 30, 2019, the District Court clarified that the hearing was a new adjudication based on the new petition and October 1 removal of G.C. Both parents stipulated to adjudication of G.C. as a youth in need of care. The court's November 12, 2019 order continued the grant of emergency protective services and temporary legal custody from its October 16 order to show cause until April 30, 2020.
¶11 At the end of October 2019, Mother reentered MCDC for inpatient chemical dependency treatment, and in November, Mother transferred to the Carole Graham Home in Missoula to continue inpatient treatment. G.C. joined her there in December 2019.
¶12 In April 2020, the Department petitioned to continue its temporary legal custody, which both parents stipulated to at a May 27, 2020 hearing. The Department also filed a motion for a permanency hearing, which was held June 3, 2020. At that time, the Department recommended reunification continue.
¶13 In June 2020, the District Court extended the Department's temporary legal custody until November 27, 2020, and approved the permanency plan.
¶14 In August 2020, after being discharged from the Carole Graham Home, Mother returned to Butte with G.C. against Department recommendations to stay in Missoula. The Department was concerned about Mother and Father resuming their relationship because of their previous domestic violence and their pattern of using drugs together. When Mother returned to Butte, she began living with relatives, but the Department found there was drug use and domestic violence occurring in the home. Mother then moved in with her grandmother, and G.C. began living with Father. Mother and Father were to alternate weeks caring for G.C. On September 15, 2020, the Department conducted a surprise visit to Father's home. The investigator found Mother and Father together. Both parents were asked to submit UAs. Mother tested positive for cocaine, methamphetamine, THC, and alcohol. Father tested positive for amphetamines. G.C. was again removed and placed into foster care. By this time, G.C. was nearly two years old and had been the subject of protective services since March 2019, a period of 18 months.
¶15 Following G.C.’s September 2020 removal, Mother entered the Southwest Montana Addiction Recovery and Treatment (SMART) Program. However, she failed to submit Department-requested UAs in the following months. In October 2020, Father again tried to "game" his UA by taping a bag of either another person's or synthetic urine to his leg.
¶16 On November 17, 2020, the Department filed petitions to terminate Mother's and Father's parental rights to G.C., citing §§ 41-3-604(1) and -609(1)(f), MCA, and that G.C. had been in the Department's custody for 13 of the previous 22 months.
¶17 Both Mother and Father filed motions to continue, and the termination hearing was held March 17, 2021. The court heard testimony from Mother and Father, Department caseworkers, a program manager from the Carole Graham Home, Mother's counselor from SMART, and staff from Butte 4-C's who had conducted supervised visits with Mother.
¶18 In its May 17, 2021 termination orders, the District Court found that G.C. had been adjudicated a youth in need of care and had been involved with the Department for 21 of the last 22 months.
¶19 The District Court found Mother had admitted to her ongoing drug use and the domestic violence between her and Father, and that both the drug use and violence had occurred in front of G.C. The court noted Mother had never obtained permanent safe and stable housing. She had violated the rules at Carole Graham Home multiple times and, upon returning to Butte, had failed to secure independent housing. Mother had repeatedly stopped and started mental health counseling. The District Court highlighted the Department's extensive efforts with Mother and described her participation in multiple inpatient treatments. Despite this extensive history, Mother remained unable to maintain sobriety. The District Court concluded Mother was unsuccessful in completing her treatment plan because of her continued drug use and was unlikely to change within a reasonable time.
¶20 As to Father, the District Court found he had been working on a treatment plan since August 2017 when G.C.’s sibling was removed. The court noted that, over the course of its intervention on behalf of G.C., the Department had requested 36 UAs from Father and that he "no showed" 33 times and tested positive twice. Father's communication with the Department and participation in mental health counseling were sporadic, and the court found Father had only "minimally engaged" with the Department. The District Court held Father was unsuccessful in his treatment plan because of his inability to maintain sobriety and was unlikely to change within a reasonable time.
¶21 The court concluded it was in G.C.’s best interests both parents’ rights be terminated.
¶22 We review a district court's decision to terminate...
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