In re T.H.T.

• Decision Date: 27 August 2008
• Docket Number: No. 469A07.,469A07.
• Citation: 665 S.E.2d 54,362 N.C. 446
• Parties: In the Matter of T.H.T.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

665 S.E.2d 54

362 N.C. 446

In the Matter of T.H.T.

No. 469A07.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

August 27, 2008.

Appeal pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-30(2) from the decision of a divided panel of the Court of Appeals, 185 N.C.App. 337, 648 S.E.2d 519 (2007), affirming an order entered 3 November 2006 by Judge J. Henry Banks in District Court, Vance County. Heard in the Supreme Court 18 March 2008.

Carolyn J. Yancey, Henderson, for petitioner-appellee Vance County Department of Social Services.

Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP, by K. Edward Greene and Tobias S. Hampson, Raleigh, for respondent-appellant mother.

TIMMONS-GOODSON, Justice.

To ensure placement and permanence for children "within a reasonable amount of time," the Juvenile Code provides clear and unambiguous time limits for entry of orders of adjudication and disposition, permanency planning orders, and orders terminating parental rights. N.C.G.S. § 7B-100(5) (2007). Increasingly, appeals from orders of adjudication and disposition, permanency planning orders, and orders terminating parental rights cite as grounds for reversal the failure of district courts to timely enter the orders. These appeals have come from all districts and counties within our state, with delays ranging from several weeks to almost a year. This systemic failure by district courts to adhere to statutory time limits results in prolonged periods of instability for all parties involved. Such instability and uncertainty are particularly devastating to children, who experience time differently from adults. Today we determine that the appropriate remedy for such failures—the remedy best suited to enforce statutory time limits and thus best ensure that North Carolina children receive the resolution they need and deserve and that the statutes demand—is mandamus. Accordingly, to the extent the Court of Appeals determined that the failure by the trial court to adhere to the statutory time limit did not require a new hearing to remedy the error, we affirm the Court of Appeals.

BACKGROUND

Respondent is the mother of T.H.T. After respondent and her husband permanently separated on 26 July 2005, they shared custody of their daughter, T.H.T., through an informal custodial agreement. On approximately 16 October 2005, seven-month-old T.H.T. suffered a closed head injury while in respondent's care. The child's father thereafter filed a custody action in the district court in Vance County seeking sole custody of T.H.T. The Department of Social Services in Vance County (DSS) also filed a juvenile petition on 2 February 2006, alleging that T.H.T. was abused and neglected. The trial court conducted a hearing on the juvenile petition on several days between 5 April 2006 and 26 July 2006. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court determined that T.H.T. was an abused and neglected juvenile and awarded legal and physical custody of T.H.T. to her father. The trial court awarded respondent unsupervised visitation privileges at specific times on most weekends. The trial court relieved DSS and the guardian ad litem of any further involvement in the case. The trial court, however, did not enter a written order reflecting its adjudication and disposition of T.H.T.'s case until 3 November 2006, nor did it hold a hearing pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7B-807 to determine the cause of delay in entry of the order.

Respondent appealed from the adjudication and disposition order to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, which, in a divided opinion, affirmed the order of the trial court. In re T.H.T., 185 N.C.App. 337, 648 S.E.2d 519 (2007). The dissenting judge concluded that the trial court's three-month delay in entering the order, coupled with the court's subsequent failure to hold a hearing to determine the cause of the delay, prejudiced respondent and warranted reversal of the order. See id. at 356, 648 S.E.2d at 531 (Tyson, J., dissenting). Respondent appeals to this Court on the basis of the dissent.

ANALYSIS

Respondent argues the trial court committed reversible error by failing to timely enter the order of adjudication and disposition in violation of the time lines set forth in N.C.G.S. §§ 7B-807(b) and 7B-905(a) and by failing to hold a hearing pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7B-807(b) to determine the cause of delay in entry of the order of adjudication and disposition. Respondent correctly notes that there is no dispute that the trial court committed error in violating N.C.G.S. §§ 7B-807 and 7B-905. Thus, the dispositive issue before this Court is identification of the proper remedy. In order to determine whether the trial court's order should be reversed, as asserted by respondent, we first examine the relevant statutes at issue and their purposes as stated in the North Carolina Juvenile Code.

The North Carolina Juvenile Code

The North Carolina Juvenile Code "stresses the paramount importance of the child's best interest and the need to place children in safe, permanent homes within a reasonable time." In re R.T.W., 359 N.C. 539, 549, 614 S.E.2d 489, 496 (2005), superseded by statute on other grounds, Act of Aug. 23, 2005, ch. 398, sec. 12, 2005 N.C. Sess. Laws 1455, 1460-61, as recognized in In re T.R.P., 360 N.C. 588, 592, 636 S.E.2d 787, 791 (2006). The Juvenile Code sets out various time lines related to the hearing of juvenile cases, consistent with the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997¹, to ensure that "when it is not in the juvenile's best interest to be returned home, the juvenile will be placed in a safe, permanent home within a reasonable amount of time." N.C.G.S. § 7B-100(5). The two statutes specifically at issue here are N.C.G.S. §§ 7B-807 and 7B-905. Section 7B-807(b) states that an order of adjudication "shall be reduced to writing, signed, and entered no later than 30 days following the completion of the hearing." Id. Section 7B-905(a) imposes an identical thirty-day deadline for the entry of an order of disposition. Id. In 2005 the General Assembly amended section 7B-807 to provide:

If the [adjudicatory] order is not entered within 30 days following completion of the hearing, the clerk of court for juvenile matters shall schedule a subsequent hearing at the first session of court scheduled for the hearing of juvenile matters following the 30-day period to determine and explain the reason for the delay and to obtain any needed clarification as to the contents of the order. The order shall be entered within 10 days of the subsequent hearing required by this subsection.

Id. The General Assembly's purpose, as indicated in the title of the act, was to "Amend the Juvenile Code to Expedite Outcomes for Children and Families Involved In Welfare Cases and Appeals." Act of Aug. 23, 2005, ch. 398, 2005 N.C. Sess. Laws 1455. Although not directly at issue here, we note that the General Assembly added identical language to N.C.G.S. § 7B-907(c), see id., sec. 7, at 1458, pertaining to permanency planning orders, and to N.C.G.S. §§ 7B-1109(e) and 7B-1110(a), pertaining to orders terminating parental rights, see id., secs. 16, 17, at 1462-63. The statutory time limits recognize the critical function of timely entry of orders in cases affecting the welfare of children and are consistent with the Juvenile Code's overarching purpose of achieving safe, permanent homes for children within a reasonable amount of time. See N.C.G.S. § 7B-100(5).

The impact of delay

The importance of timely resolution of cases involving the welfare of children cannot be overstated. A child's perception of time differs from that of an adult. See Joseph Goldstein et al., The Best Interests of the Child: The Least Detrimental Alternative 9 (1996) (explaining that a child's sense of time results in high sensitivity to the length of separation from a primary caregiver). As one commentator observed, "The legal system views [child welfare] cases as numbers on a docket. However, to a child, waiting for a resolution seems like forever—an eternity with no real family and no sense of belonging." Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, Expediting the Adoption Process at the Appellate Level, 28 Cap. U.L.Rev. 121, 121 (1999).

This Court has recognized that justice delayed in custody cases is too often justice denied. See In re R.T.W., 359 N.C. at 545, 614 S.E.2d at 493 (commenting that "interminable custody battles do not serve the child's best interest"). Notably, our Rules of Appellate Procedure provide for expedited appeals in cases involving termination of parental rights and issues of juvenile abuse, neglect, and dependency. N.C. R.App. P. 3A. Thus, in almost all cases, delay is directly contrary to the best interests of children, which is the "polar star" of the North Carolina Juvenile Code. In re Montgomery, 311 N.C. 101, 109, 316 S.E.2d 246, 251 (1984) (emphasizing that "[t]he fundamental principle underlying North Carolina's approach to controversies involving child neglect and custody [is] that the best interest of the child is the polar star"); see also N.C.G.S. § 7B-100(5) (stating that "the best interests of the juvenile are of paramount consideration by the court"); In re R.T.W., 359 N.C. at 552, 614 S.E.2d at 497 (noting that the denial of a stable home life for children is "completely repugnant to their best interests" and consequently to the Juvenile Code).

The statutory deadline dilemma

Despite the harm to children inflicted by delay and despite the clear and unambiguous statutory deadlines, an alarming number of appeals over the past several years have involved significant violations by the trial courts of the statutory deadlines for entering orders of adjudication and disposition, as well as permanency planning orders and orders terminating parental rights.² In reviewing these appeals, the Court of Appeals generally weighed the time requirements of the statutes against the practical effects of the delay and examined the alleged harm resulting from the trial court's failure to enter an order within the proscribed...