In re Utrera

• Decision Date: 23 September 2008
• Docket Number: Docket No. 280531.
• Citation: 761 N.W.2d 253,281 Mich. App. 1
• Parties: In re UTRERA.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

761 N.W.2d 253

281 Mich. App. 1

In re UTRERA.

Docket No. 280531.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted June 4, 2008, at Detroit.

Decided September 23, 2008, at 9:00 a.m.

Karen Russell, Mount Clemens, for the petitioner.

John J. Bologna, Troy, for the respondent.

Before: WHITBECK, P.J., and O'CONNELL and KELLY, JJ.

KELLY, J.

Respondent mother appeals as of right the trial court order terminating her parental rights to her minor child pursuant to MCL 712A.19b(3)(d) (parent's noncompliance with a limited guardianship placement plan resulted in a disruption of the parent-child relationship) and (j) (reasonable likelihood that the child will be harmed if returned to parent). We affirm.

I. BASIC FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

In March 2002, respondent filed a petition with the probate court requesting the appointment of Carolyn H. Roach as the limited guardian for the minor child pursuant to MCL 700.5205, because respondent lacked housing. Roach was the mother of respondent's boyfriend and acted as a surrogate grandmother to the minor child. The probate court granted the petition, and for the five years between the time the petition was granted and the time of the dispositional hearing, the minor child lived with Roach. The probate court ordered respondent to comply with a limited guardianship placement plan, which required respondent to visit the minor child seven times a week and participate in positive outings, have daily telephone contact with the child, provide transportation to school, attend all school conferences and nonemergency doctor and dentist appointments, pay for babysitting, and contribute $200 a month for room, board, and expenses and $100 a month for food.

In June 2004, respondent petitioned the probate court to terminate the guardianship of the minor child, but the petition was dismissed after respondent and Roach agreed to a consent order for visitation. This order provided for visitation every Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Roach's home.

In June 2005, Roach suspended respondent's parenting time because she found that respondent's behavior was disruptive. Respondent then petitioned the probate court to terminate the guardianship. The court adopted a transition plan on August 8, 2005, requiring that respondent obtain a recommendation for a psychiatrist and receive a full psychiatric evaluation, including a comprehensive recommendation for treatment and medication. The plan provided that respondent should comply with any medication and treatment recommendations and authorize the release of her medical and counseling records to the court, Laura Henderson (the minor child's therapist), Karen Russell (who, before acting as petitioner in this matter, had been the minor child's guardian ad litem), and respondent's attorney. The plan required respondent to participate in parenting classes and maintain adequate housing and a legitimate source of income. The plan also provided that Henderson should facilitate parenting time, following the receipt of respondent's psychiatric evaluation. The court ordered that the matter would be reviewed in six months.

Respondent failed to provide a report confirming that she had received a full psychiatric evaluation. On February 15, 2006, the probate court denied respondent's motion to terminate the guardianship, finding that respondent had failed to substantially comply with the transition plan. The probate court suspended respondent's parenting time and directed the guardian ad litem to take appropriate action in the juvenile court on behalf of the minor child.

The guardian ad litem, now petitioner in this matter,¹ filed the initial petition with the trial court in this matter on June 6, 2006, claiming that respondent had failed to comply with the court-structured transition plan, which resulted in a disruption in the parent-child relationship. Petitioner alleged that respondent had significant mental health issues, including bipolar disorder. Petitioner requested that the court take jurisdiction of the minor child. In an amended petition filed on August 21, 2006, petitioner requested the termination of respondent's parental rights pursuant to MCL 712A.19b(3)(d), (e), (g), and (j), at the initial disposition phase. The court adjourned the matter on five occasions before the case came before the court in June 2007, approximately a year after petitioner filed the initial petition.

The trial court then asserted jurisdiction over the child on the basis of the prior order of the probate court finding that respondent had failed to comply with the transition plan, MCL 712A.2(b)(3).² The court proceeded to the dispositional hearing. When the hearing began, respondent had not had visitation with the child for over two years.

Elaine Ball-Tyler, a guardianship investigator with the probate court, testified that she first had contact with respondent because the maternal grandparents had been appointed as limited guardians of respondent's two older children. During an investigation regarding the guardianship of the older children in August 2001, Ball-Tyler visited respondent's home and reported that it had a very unpleasant odor, and clothing, debris, papers, and materials from various projects were strewn about the house. Ball-Tyler first met the minor child who is the subject of this action in April 2002, when she conducted a guardianship investigation pursuant to a referral based on respondent's petition for guardianship in the instant case. The child, then almost five years old, was fearful, unaccustomed to sleeping alone, and frequently wet the bed. Ball-Tyler recalled that the child had poor communicative language skills, did not know how to hold a crayon, and did not know the alphabet, numbers, or colors. Ball-Tyler described the child as disheveled and indicated that she had not received most of her immunizations, had a drifting eye, and she required dental care.

Ball-Tyler asserted that respondent had not complied with the limited guardianship placement plan in that she had failed to visit the minor child seven times a week, attend medical appointments, pay for babysitting, contribute $200 a month for room and board, or contribute $100 a month for food. Respondent admitted that she had not provided any money for room, board, or food, claiming that she could not afford it.

Henderson, the child's therapist, opined that there was no bond between respondent and the minor child and that there had been a dramatic disruption in the parent-child relationship. There was a "huge gap of time" when respondent did not have any consistent contact with the child, and the child did not recall any positive memories of respondent. Henderson believed that, if the child were returned to respondent, she would most likely "show some significant regressive behavior fairly quickly." Henderson did not believe that, given respondent's history, the child would be psychologically safe if returned to respondent. During the two years Henderson had conducted therapy with the minor child, she saw a significant reduction in the child's anxiety and depression. Henderson asserted that the child was thriving in her environment, which was evidenced by her success in school and relationships with her friends. Ball-Tyler reported that the child was happy, secure, confident, and succeeding in school and involved in a variety of activities. Henderson believed that the child needed closure, consistency, and stability, and she asserted that termination was in the child's best interests.

Respondent's therapist, Sandra Fringer, testified that, during the preceding year, respondent had been working on stress management techniques and had made improvement. Fringer stated that respondent's psychiatrist had reported that her condition was stable. However, Fringer testified that she understood that respondent had a psychiatric hospitalization seven months before the dispositional hearing began. Fringer was unable to offer an opinion with respect to respondent's ability to parent or maintain her own household. Respondent similarly claimed that she had been stable for a year before the dispositional hearing. In addition, respondent's friend, Sherry Pinch, testified that she believed that respondent could be a good parent to the minor child.

The minor child informed Henderson that, before she began living with Roach, respondent's older children had permitted her to jump out of a window onto a trampoline while respondent was at work and that they had once locked her out of the house. With respect to the trampoline incident, respondent admitted that she had left the minor child under the supervision of her older children, then ages 8 and 12, and she blamed them for the lapse in judgment. Respondent did not believe that her older children had locked the minor child out of the home.

Respondent admitted that, during the time the minor child had been living with Roach, she had been involved in two different relationships that exhibited poor judgment. In both of these relationships, she moved in with a man whom she had known for a short time and lived with him for one to two months. Both of these relationships involved incidents of domestic violence for which the police were summoned.

Respondent testified that she was unable to obtain the required psychiatric evaluation because the psychiatrists to whom she had been referred would not accept her insurance. However, she admitted that she received a psychiatric evaluation in December 2005 and that the doctor recommended lithium. Respondent asserted that she was unable to take lithium because it caused seizures and that the doctor was unwilling to prescribe any other medications. Respondent did not know why she had not presented this evaluation to the court, but she explained that she had been having trouble or mental problems at the time and could not manage to obtain the records, even though she had an attorney.

The trial court terminated respondent's...