In re L.Q.F.
| Decision Date | 15 March 2022 |
| Docket Number | ED 109823 |
| Citation | 642 S.W.3d 327 |
| Parties | In the INTEREST OF: L.Q.F., A.E.D., D.G.F., J.S.F., L.T.K., and J.L.K. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Paul O. Schmanke, 301 East Main Street, Union, MO 63084, for appellant.
Laura Sexton, 120 S. Church Street, Union, MO 63084, for respondent.
Natalie D. Pollock, P.O. Box 1562, Washington, MO 63090, for Guardian Ad Litem.
Following a dispositional hearing on a petition for termination of parental rights ("TPR") in the Circuit Court of Franklin County, the circuit court entered judgment terminating the parental rights of D.D. ("Mother"). Mother appeals the judgment, arguing the circuit court erred in (1) denying her motion for extraordinary expenses to engage an expert to evaluate and testify to her physiological capabilities; and (2) allowing hearsay statements of two of Mother's children at the dispositional hearing. We affirm the judgment of the circuit court.
On February 16, 2018, Mother's six children were taken into emergency protective custody by the Missouri Department of Social Services, Children's Division. They were taken into custody due to reports that Mother and J.F. ("Father"), her live-in paramour and the biological father of some of the children, abused and neglected the children.1 At the time, all six children were juveniles.
On February 11, 2019, Father pleaded guilty to two counts of felony abuse or neglect of two of the children, L.T.K. and J.S.F. Father was sentenced to seven years in prison. Mother also was charged with felony abuse or neglect of L.T.K. and J.S.F. Those charges remained pending at the time of the TPR judgment at issue here.
On September 25, 2019, a juvenile officer of the Circuit Court of Franklin County filed a petition to terminate Mother's parental rights as to all six children. The first dispositional hearing was held on January 21, 2020. Shortly thereafter, the circuit court entered judgment terminating Mother's parental rights. Later, the circuit court set aside the judgment and appointed counsel to represent Mother, because Mother was indigent and had been unrepresented at the first dispositional hearing.
On October 13, 2020, Mother's appointed counsel filed a "Motion to Approve Cost of Extraordinary Expenses" asking the circuit court to approve up to $3,000 for an expert physical therapist to evaluate and testify to Mother's physiological history and limitations. The circuit court held a hearing and denied the motion on October 20, 2020.
A second dispositional hearing was held on March 15, 2021, approximately 18 months after the TPR petition was filed. At the hearing, Mother's counsel renewed the motion to approve the cost of extraordinary expenses. The circuit court again denied the motion and proceeded with the dispositional hearing.
The evidence adduced at the hearing and relevant to this appeal, viewed in the light most favorable to the judgment, see In re T.T.G. , 530 S.W.3d 489, 491 (Mo. banc 2017), is as follows.
Evidence of Abuse Under Section 211.447.5(2) 2
Mother's two oldest children, L.T.K. and J.L.K., both were 18 years old by the time of the dispositional hearing on March 15, 2021. Neither L.T.K. nor J.L.K. testified at the hearing. Instead, Erin Duncan, a children's service worker, testified to statements that L.T.K. and J.L.K. previously made to her. Mother's counsel objected to hearsay. Counsel for the juvenile officer responded that the testimony was admissible pursuant to the hearsay exception for statements by juveniles established in In re Marriage of P.K.A. , 725 S.W.2d 78, 81 (Mo. App. S.D. 1987), and that L.T.K. and J.L.K. were juveniles when they made the statements. Mother's counsel replied that L.T.K. and J.L.K. were adults at the time of hearing. The circuit court overruled Mother's objection and allowed the testimony.
Over objection, Duncan testified that L.T.K. told her he had no desire to return home and he wished his siblings not to return home. She also testified that J.L.K. reported to her that Father, with Mother watching, choked and pulled the hair of one of the children. J.L.K. also told Duncan that her head was hit against the refrigerator and that she observed Mother and Father hit her siblings, A.E.D., J.S.F., and L.T.K. Without objection, Duncan also testified that two of the younger children, A.E.D. and J.S.F., stated they did not want to return home.
In addition to their statements to Duncan, L.T.K. and J.L.K. were interviewed at the Child Advocacy Center ("CAC") in February 2018. At the time of the interviews, L.T.K. was 14 years old and J.L.K. was 15. Video recordings and summaries of the CAC interviews were admitted into evidence at the hearing without objection. Mother's counsel stipulated to their entry into the record and asked the circuit court to evaluate the videos with "the totality of the circumstances and the evidence."
In his interview, L.T.K. stated that his parents get "really angry" and "abusive." His sister recorded the abuse and sent the recording to the police. "Lots of things" happened, which caused him to feel unsafe in his home. Father punched L.T.K. and his brother, J.S.F., while screaming and yelling. The punches left marks and bruises on L.T.K.’s body. The first time this happened was when L.T.K. was nine years old, and the last time was a couple of days before the police removed the children. Mother also hit L.T.K. and his siblings, leaving welts and red marks. Mother would bounce their heads off things and smack them. Mother grabbed J.L.K. by the hair and bounced her head off things.
Mother hit the children with "miniature horse whips," belts, and her hands. She also threw things at the children. One time, Mother threw a hammer at L.T.K. and missed. She picked up the hammer and hit L.T.K. in the lower back with it. On one occasion, Father hit L.T.K. in the face with his hand, grabbed him by the neck, and drug him into another room. Father hit him again, grabbed him by his hair, and slammed his head against the wall three times. L.T.K.’s mouth bled from Father punching him. His brother, J.S.F., probably "got it the worst." Mother and Father hit J.S.F. with their hands, belts, and hangers. J.S.F. bled from the nose from Father hitting him.
J.L.K. stated in her CAC interview that she endured verbal abuse and "death threats" at home. Father mainly hit the boys, but when J.L.K. was approximately ten years old, she got "popped" in the face. Her head was hit on the refrigerator once or twice. She described several whips, a piece of wood trim, and switches used to hit the children. Mother would throw whatever was around her. On one occasion, J.L.K. tried to call the police, but Mother hung up the phone. When J.L.K. was younger, Mother would hit her in the mouth and would hit the other children with an open hand. Father hit J.S.F. with a closed hand, and pulled L.T.K. by his hair and smacked him across the face. Father hit J.S.F. hard enough for his head to hit the ground and bounce back. Father hit J.S.F. a lot, and Mother once got angry at Father for kicking J.S.F. in the chest. J.S.F. had bruises and welts from Father hitting him on the legs, ribs, arms, and chest. The two youngest siblings, L.Q.F. and A.E.D., five and seven years old at the time of the interview, had their heads hit up against the wall. J.L.K. video recorded Mother yelling at her and L.T.K. and making a "fight or die" comment. J.L.K. was scared of Mother and Father, and of returning home with them.
J.L.K. also sat for a deposition on June 30, 2020. A transcript of the deposition was admitted into evidence at the dispositional hearing without objection. In the deposition, J.L.K. testified that Mother could be very violent and abusive. Mother got angry and, when she did not want to enforce punishment herself, she would have Father do it. Father "had the tendency to do whatever [Mother] said, but he also had a hair trigger for violence, especially towards people who were younger or smaller or less capable of protecting themself [sic]." Occasionally, Father threw things, but Mother was usually the one to throw things. Mother threw a hammer, dishes, shoes, and a lamp at the children. Mother and Father hit the children with whips, vacuum cords, switches, belts, and wood trim with staples in it. There were many such incidents that became everyday life.
J.L.K. elaborated that Father slapped and hit J.L.K.’s youngest sister, L.Q.F., all over her body and pulled her hair, but Mother was even meaner to L.Q.F. Mother once slapped L.Q.F. all over when she was four or five years old. At times, Mother hit L.Q.F. with a closed fist.
Father smacked J.L.K.’s youngest brother, A.E.D., pulled his hair and drug him by his hair. Father hit A.E.D. with a closed hand several times when A.E.D. was about four years old. Father hit D.G.F. in the stomach with a closed fist when she was about eight years old. Mother backhanded J.S.F. and may have busted his lip. At least once a week, Mother told Father to hit J.S.F. Father hit J.S.F. with a closed fist and stomped on him, and Mother sat and watched. Father hit J.S.F. at least once a day for years.
Mother hit the oldest children, J.L.K. and L.T.K., with a vacuum cord. She hit L.T.K. with a closed fist in the chest.
Mother threw a hammer at L.T.K. and hit him in the lower back. When L.T.K. was eleven or twelve years old, Father hit him in the chest with a closed fist and L.T.K. could not breathe. Mother cracked J.L.K.’s head on the refrigerator and faucets and left a scar. J.L.K. used to have a stutter
and got hit for that. Mother once ripped one of J.L.K.’s earrings out of her ear. J.L.K. recorded Mother threatening to kill the children with a knife and saying "fight or die." When Mother and Father hit J.L.K. and her siblings, they left marks on their faces, arms, legs, backs, stomachs, and chests. Mother did a lot of things to the children and allowed a lot of...
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