In re T.K.

• Decision Date: 29 January 2008
• Docket Number: No. 28458.,28458.
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: In re T.K.<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL>

939 A.2d 9

105 Conn.App. 502

In re T.K.^*

No. 28458.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued November 27, 2007.

Decided January 29, 2008.

Penn Rhodeen, New Haven, for the appellants (respondents).

Jon Femia, assistant attorney general, with whom, on the brief, were Richard Blumenthal, attorney general, and Susan T. Pearlman and Jessica Gauvin, assistant attorneys general, for the appellee (petitioner).

GRUENDEL, LAVINE and FOTI, J.

LAVINE, J.

"Parents have a constitutionally protected right to raise and care for their own children. . . . This right is not free from intervention by the state, however, when the continuing parens patriae interest of the state in the well being of children is deemed by law to supersede parental interests." (Citation omitted.) In re Juvenile Appeal (83-DE), 190 Conn. 310, 318-19, 460 A.2d 1277 (1983); see Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 766, 102 S.Ct. 1388; 71 L.Ed.2d 599 (1982). In furtherance of the state's parens patriae interest, the legislature has enacted a comprehensive statutory scheme; see General Statutes § 46b-120 et seq.; to protect children who have been adjudicated neglected due to either the conscious acts or omissions of a parent; see, e.g., In re Allison G., 276 Conn. 146, 164, 883 A.2d 1226 (2005); or the personal limitations of a parent. See, e.g., In re Migdalia M., 6 Conn.App. 194, 205-207, 504 A.2d 533, cert. denied, 199 Conn. 809, 508 A.2d 770 (1986). The case on appeal demonstrates how that statutory scheme permits the state to intervene to protect the well-being of a child, to assist troubled parents who are receptive to services and to preserve the family. See General Statutes § 17a-101(a).

The respondent parents¹ appeal from the judgment of the trial court adjudicating their child neglected. On appeal, the respondents claim that (1) there was insufficient evidence, as a matter of law, from which the court could conclude that the child was neglected and (2) one of the court's factual findings was clearly erroneous. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The following background is relevant to our review. The child, the respondents' first, was born on November 30, 2005. During the period of her lying-in, the mother told a hospital social worker that she had recurring thoughts of harming herself and the child. The department of children and families (department) received a referral concerning the child on December 13, 2005. On December 15, 2005, the petitioner, the commissioner of children and families, filed a neglect petition² and a motion for an order of temporary custody. That same day, the motion for temporary custody was granted by the court, Conway, J. The petitioner filed the neglect petition premised on the doctrine of predictive neglect.³ See In re Michael D., 58 Conn.App. 119, 123-25, 752 A.2d 1135, cert. denied, 254 Conn. 911, 759 A.2d 505 (2000). On December 23, 2005, the order of temporary custody was vacated by the court, B. Kaplan, J., pursuant to an agreement under which the mother would have only supervised contact with the child. The child's maternal grandmother was approved as a supervisor, and the respondents were ordered to undergo psychological evaluations. Following a four day trial, on November 30, 2006, Judge Kaplan adjudicated the child neglected, as she was permitted to live under conditions, circumstances or associations injurious to her well-being, pursuant to § 46b-120(9)(C).⁴ Judge Kaplan ordered a six month period of protective services from May 30 to November 30, 2006. The respondents filed a motion for reargument, which the court denied. This appeal followed.

We are mindful of the purpose of a finding of neglect. "[A]n adjudication of neglect relates to the status of the child and is not necessarily premised on parental fault. A finding that the child is neglected is different from finding who is responsible for the child's condition of neglect. Although [General Statutes] § 46b-129 requires both parents to be named in the petition, the adjudication of neglect is not a judgment that runs against a person or persons so named in the petition; [i]t is not directed against them as parents, but rather is a finding that the children are neglected. . . ." (Emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) In re Jeffrey C., 64 Conn.App. 55, 62, 779 A.2d 765 (2001), rev'd on other grounds, 261 Conn. 189, 802 A.2d 772 (2002); see also In re Allison G., supra, 276 Conn. at 164, 883 A.2d 1226 (focal point of neglect petition is not condemnation of parents but status of child). The application of a statute to a particular set of facts is a question of law to which we apply a plenary standard of review. See In re Nasia B., 98 Conn.App. 319, 328, 908 A.2d 1090 (2006).

I

The respondents' first claim is that the court improperly determined that the child was neglected because she was being permitted to live under conditions, circumstances or associations injurious to her well-being.⁵ We disagree.

The court found by the preponderance of the evidence the following facts that occurred prior to the filing of the neglect petition. "[T]he facts seem almost undisputed that after the child was born and she was in the hospital, that the mother reported to the staff that she had obsessive thoughts and anxieties. The mother had thoughts of hurting herself and also hurting the baby. Those thoughts were reported to the [department]. The nurses were also concerned about the boundaries the mother had with the child while the mother also had . . . a higher level of anxiety . . . than a normal parent of a newborn. The father also had some symptoms, and the mother said that if she dropped the baby, then this would be over. And there was also an incident at the hospital involving the father and a mattress.⁶

"All of these factors taken into consideration, and especially the testimony of the father, who, unlike the other people, was aware of his wife's thoughts about hurting herself, and when he heard about her thoughts of hurting the child, was himself overly concerned and fearful for the welfare of the child, as was the mother at that time. That type of testimony is leading the court to its conclusion today. So, I adjudicate the child neglected."⁷ (Emphasis added.)

"Appellate review of a trial court's findings of fact is governed by the clearly erroneous standard of review. The trial court's findings are binding upon this court unless they are clearly erroneous in light of the evidence and the pleadings in the record as a whole. . . . We cannot retry the facts or pass on the credibility of the witnesses. . . . A finding of fact is clearly erroneous when there is no evidence in the record to support it . . . or when although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) In re Jessica S., 51 Conn.App. 667, 674-75, 723 A.2d 356, cert. denied, 251 Conn. 901, 738 A.2d 1090 (1999). Having reviewed the evidence presented at trial, we conclude that the court's decision adjudicating the child neglected because she was being permitted to live under conditions, circumstances or associations injurious to her well-being was not clearly erroneous.

The respondents were referred to S. David Bernstein,⁸ a clinical forensic psychologist, for psychological evaluations. The court had identified eight concerns, including the emotional and psychological status of the respondents, the present relationship between the respondents, the nature of the marital relationship between the respondents, who will provide the child's primary care, whether the caregivers require services, the nature and extent of the extended family relationships and whether major figures in the child's life have intellectual, emotional or physical characteristics that may impair their ability to develop appropriate relationships or to discharge their child care responsibilities.

The evidence discloses that Bernstein conducted clinical interviews with the respondents individually and together with the child in January, 2006. Bernstein conducted collateral interviews with the mother's psychiatrist and the couple's marriage counselor. He also administered the Child Abuse Potential Inventory⁹ and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence to both of the respondents and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory to the mother. In addition, he reviewed a number of department and court records concerning the respondents.

Bernstein's report indicates, among other things, that at all relevant times, the mother was a twenty-six year old high school graduate who had earned two certificates from a community college and studied at a seminary abroad. She reported having grown up in a loving home. At the time of the interview, she had a job selling newspapers and Mary Kay cosmetics. The mother has had obsessive thoughts of harming herself since she was seven years old, and she has been diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder. She regularly sees a psychiatrist, who prescribes for her antidepressant and antipsychotic medications. Despite her history of suicidal ideation, the mother has never acted on those thoughts, nor has she acted on her troubling thoughts as they relate to the child. She knows that harming herself is wrong, and she believes that she is a good person.

Following the birth of the child, the mother had obsessive thoughts of harming the child and was feeling overwhelmed by the new responsibility. She informed the father, who was aware of her obsessive compulsive disorder, of her thoughts. He advised her to speak with the hospital social worker about her thoughts because the social worker might be of help. The social worker reported the mother's anxieties to the physician responsible for discharging the mother and child. The physician indicated that the department would have to become involved. The hospital social...