In re R. L. S.-G.
| Decision Date | 08 May 2023 |
| Docket Number | A22-1342 |
| Parties | In the Matter of the Welfare of the Child of: R. L. S.-G., Parent. |
| Court | Minnesota Court of Appeals |
This opinion is nonprecedential except as provided by Minn. R Civ. App. P. 136.01, subd. 1(c).
Hennepin County District Court File No. 27-JV-20-3987
Anne Morris Carlson, Anne M. Carlson Law Office, PLLC, St. Paul Minnesota (for appellant father R.L.S.-G.)
Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County Attorney, Mary Lynch, Senior Assistant County Attorney, Minneapolis, Minnesota (for respondent Hennepin County Health and Human Services Department)
Ellen Murphy-Fritsch, White Bear Lake, Minnesota (for respondent mother, J.L.S.B.)
Andrew Lloyd, Minneapolis, Minnesota (guardian ad litem)
Laura Baldwin, Hennepin County Public Defender's Office Minneapolis, Minnesota (for respondent child)
Considered and decided by Larson, Presiding Judge; Reilly, Judge; and Reyes, Judge.
Appellant-father challenges a district court order terminating his parental rights to his minor child. Because the record supports the district court's determination that a statutory ground for termination exists, the district court's findings addressed the statutory criteria, and the district court did not clearly err in its factual findings, we affirm.
Appellant R.L.S.-G. is the father of a child born in November 2011. After the child was born, father's relationship with the child's mother, J.L.S.B., deteriorated. Father moved out of the shared residence and the child remained mainly in mother's care. Mother and father had an informal agreement that allowed father to have custody of the child during Christmas, winter break, and some summers.
In June 2018, mother brandished a gun and threatened a carwash employee while the child was in the backseat of her car. Mother contacted father about the incident and requested that the child stay with father and his former fiance, A.C., who were living in Waukegan, Illinois. Father agreed, picked the child up, and enrolled her in school in Illinois. Mother was charged with second-degree felony assault and child endangerment. Respondent Hennepin County Human Services and Public Health Department (Hennepin County) opened a child protection investigation but was unable to meet with the child while she was living with her father.
At the end of the summer, mother and grandmother had not heard from father or the child and did not know where they were living. Mother and maternal grandmother contacted law enforcement and the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children (NCEMC) for assistance in locating the child. Hennepin County closed its child protection investigation due to NCEMC's involvement. NCEMC was unsuccessful in contacting father. Consequently, mother filed an ex parte motion for custody in a family court file and was awarded temporary custody of the child pending a motion hearing. Mother managed to contact the child and find out where father was living. Ultimately, the child's school informed father that mother had traveled to Illinois and picked up the child to bring her back to Minnesota.
In November 2018, father and A.C. relocated to Minnesota to live with father's sister. Father sought custody of the child through proceedings in the family court file. During the custody hearing, mother exhibited strange behavior when she repeatedly ran barefoot out of the courtroom without permission from the court. The court granted father temporary sole legal and temporary sole physical custody of the child. In May 2019 after an evidentiary hearing, the court granted full custody to father, finding that mother often sent the child to live with maternal grandmother and needed to demonstrate stability to be an appropriate caregiver to the child. After acquiring additional charges for criminal conduct, mother was incarcerated from May to November 2019.
During this period, the child lived with father and A.C. in various residences including father's sister's home in Pine City, A.C.'s home in Bloomington, and a residence in North Minneapolis. After mother was released from prison and appeared to be doing well, father allowed mother to have contact with the child. In July 2020, father dropped the child off at mother's home for a weekend visit. During this visit, the child disclosed to mother instances of physical and sexual abuse perpetrated by father. Mother brought the child to the hospital for an evaluation and Dakota County Social Services (Dakota County) investigated the allegations. Mother sought an emergency ex parte order for protection from father on behalf of the child and for herself.
A child protection investigator from Dakota County conducted a forensic interview of the child. The child reported father pulled down her pants and underwear to "whoop" her with his hand or a belt on several occasions. The child also reported, on multiple occasions, father "whooped" her and used his finger to press on her vagina. This occurred at least once in Pine City at father's sister's home. The child stated father made her pull down her pants and underwear, held open her legs, and stared at her vagina at A.C.'s home in Bloomington. She also reported father was angry about a pen that did not have ink and scratched her stomach with the pen, drawing blood. The child stated that she did not feel safe with father. The investigator spoke to father, who believed mother forced the child to fabricate the allegations against him. The investigator had trouble contacting mother for more information. Mother shared that she had text messages from father admitting his abuse, but mother refused to provide them to the investigator because she was purportedly working with law enforcement. The Dakota County investigator ultimately determined that physical and sexual abuse did not occur and closed the investigation in August 2020.
In September, the child was interviewed at Midwest Children's Resource Center (MCRC) about her sexual-abuse allegations.1[] While the child's allegations against father were more numerous, many instances of abuse the child described were like those she described to the Dakota County investigator. The child reported father pulled down her pants and underwear, looked at her vagina, and rubbed her vagina two times in Bloomington and Pine City. The child reported father said, "If you love me, you'll lick my private parts" while he was undressed. The child stated the last instance that father inappropriately touched her was at a residence in North Minneapolis.
Because the child indicated abuse took place in multiple locations, three law enforcement jurisdictions investigated whether father should be criminally charged. Ultimately, none of the jurisdictions charged father. And while Dakota County did not find that father maltreated the child, Hennepin County reviewed MCRC's report and determined that a preponderance of the evidence supported a finding that maltreatment occurred, and child protective services were needed.
In November 2020, Hennepin County petitioned to terminate father's parental rights based on father's palpable unfitness to be a party to the parent-child relationship and the child experiencing egregious harm while in father's care. The district court held an emergency protective care hearing and found that the petition made a prima facie showing that father subjected the child to egregious harm. As a result, the district court determined Hennepin County was not required to provide reasonable efforts to reunify father and the child. The district court also ordered father to have no contact with the child and placed the child in mother's custody.
Despite being relieved of reasonable efforts, Hennepin County offered father a case plan to work towards reunification, which included (1) completing a psychosexual assessment and following recommendations; (2) abiding by all court orders, including no contact with child; and (3) cooperating with and remaining in contact with Hennepin County. Father refused to complete the psychosexual assessment and requested that the district court allow him to complete a parenting assessment instead. The district court and Hennepin County did not remove the psychosexual assessment from father's case plan, but Hennepin County made a referral for father for the parenting-assessment service. During the parenting assessment, father stated his relationship with mother "got physical a few times." Father informed the parenting assessor he pleaded guilty and served eight months in jail for fifth-degree assault after mother complained he threatened to kill her with a gun. Father stated he was innocent. The assessors recommended that father complete a psychological evaluation, pursue individual therapy, complete anger-management education, complete chemical-dependency treatment and submit random urinary analysis tests to show sobriety, attend parenting-education classes, participate in co-parenting and family therapy with the child, maintain stable housing, obtain financial assistance and food stamp resources, and support the child's individual therapy.
In July and August 2022, the district court held a trial on father's parental rights. The district court heard testimony from father, the child, the Dakota County investigator, Hennepin County's child protection investigator, the Hennepin County's child protection social worker, the medical director of MCRC, father's sister, and the guardian ad litem (GAL). Mother did not appear or testify.[2] The district court granted an adverse inference against mother after being presented with evidence of her dishonesty.
Father...
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