Jennifer T. v. State
| Docket Number | S-18544,S-18564,1981 |
| Decision Date | 09 August 2023 |
| Parties | JENNIFER T., Appellant, v. STATE OF ALASKA, DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICES, OFFICE OF CHILDREN'S SERVICES, Appellee. RUSSEL T., Appellant, v. STATE OF ALASKA, DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY &COMMUNITY SERVICES, OFFICE OF CHILDREN'S SERVICES, Appellee. |
| Court | Alaska Supreme Court |
UNPUBLISHED See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d)
Appeal from the Superior Court of the State of Alaska, Third Judicial District, Superior Court No. 3SW-20-00004 CN Kenai Lance Joanis, Judge.
Lindsey Bray, Assistant Public Defender, and Samantha Cherot Public Defender, Anchorage, for Appellant Jennifer T. Olena Kalytiak Davis, Anchorage, for Appellant Russel T. Katherine Demarest, Assistant Attorney General, Anchorage, and Treg R Taylor, Attorney General, Juneau, for Appellee.
Before: Maassen, Chief Justice, Carney, Borghesan, Henderson, and Pate, Justices.
1. INTRODUCTION
A mother and father appeal the termination of their parental rights, arguing that the Office of Children's Services (OCS) failed to make reasonable efforts to reunify their family, as required by statute. We conclude that OCS's efforts were reasonable and affirm the superior court's termination orders.
11. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
Jennifer and Russel[1] married in 2009. They had a son together later that year.[2]
Starting in 2014 Jennifer underwent seven surgeries in the span of a year and a half. She was prescribed a variety of pain killers, but she decided to abruptly end her use of the prescribed medications and began using heroin.
Jennifer found out she was pregnant in October 2019 but believed she had a miscarriage about one month later. A few months later, she again discovered she was pregnant. Believing that she had become pregnant after her miscarriage and was only a few months along, Jennifer did not seek immediate prenatal care. Five or six weeks later, Jennifer went into labor. A daughter, Hillary, was born full term in April 2020.
The staff at the hospital where Jennifer gave birth noted that she was "exceptionally sleepy and unable to stay awake when [staff] were talking to her." The hospital conducted a urinalysis (UA). The UA was negative for drug use, but testing revealed that the sample provided was not from a recently pregnant person. Hospital staff were concerned about the "questionable" UA result and Jennifer's lack of prenatal care, so they contacted OCS. OCS became concerned that Russel had provided Jennifer's sample.
After the UA Jennifer and Russel left the hospital with Hillary against medical advice. A sample of Hillary's meconium was also sent for testing. Jennifer and Russel left the hospital before the test results were received.
Hillary's meconium test came back positive for amphetamines, methamphetamines, and opiates. A caseworker then went to the hotel on the Kenai peninsula where Jennifer and Russel were staying and spoke to Russel about the positive test. The caseworker later testified that Russel told her that Jennifer had used drugs in the past but that the use had ended when she learned she was pregnant.
Jennifer and Hillary were not at the hotel, and the caseworker testified that police found them in a vehicle shortly after. The caseworker met a police officer and Jennifer at the vehicle. She took Hillary away from Jennifer while they were standing on the side of the road. Jennifer testified that the caseworker initially agreed to give Hillary solely to Russel, but that the caseworker then changed her mind before Russel arrived. Jennifer described the police officer "plucking [her] fingers off [Hillary's] car seat" while the caseworker took Hillary from her.
Hillary was initially placed in a non-relative foster home on the Kenai peninsula. Because she was in a different community than her parents, OCS facilitated visitation by video.
After a few weeks, Hillary was placed with her maternal uncle and his partner in the Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) valley at Jennifer's request. OCS did not consider placement with Russel to be appropriate because it had concerns that he provided Jennifer with the UA sample at the hospital and that he was also abusing substances.
Hillary's case had four different caseworkers after she was placed with her uncle.
The first caseworker made individual case plans with Jennifer and Russel in early July 2020. Both case plans had the same goals: complete a hair follicle test, participate in UA testing, schedule an intake at Seaview Mental Health Center (a behavioral health center) and sign a release of information, and maintain contact with OCS.
Upon OCS's referral both parents participated in counseling services at Seaview. Russel was discharged in March 2021 because he completed his 12 required sessions. Jennifer was discharged from the program in July for lack of compliance with and failure to attend the program.
OCS made referrals for both Jennifer and Russel to undergo drug testing, but neither parent substantially participated.[3] OCS did not refer them for further substance abuse evaluation or treatment. At trial a caseworker explained that OCS did not make those referrals because, due to the parents' denial of drug use, it needed them to undergo drug testing to determine whether they were in fact not using drugs.
Caseworkers testified that they attempted to maintain regular monthly contact with Jennifer and Russel but that the parents would often miss scheduled meetings. Most communication between the parents and the caseworkers was by telephone or email, rather than in person.
OCS initially facilitated visitation with Hillary in its Anchorage office. After Jennifer and Russel repeatedly failed to check in before visits, OCS moved visitation to Hillary's foster home in the Mat-Su valley. During the remainder of the case, visitation between Hillary and her parents occurred at the foster home. The foster parents expressed concerns that Jennifer and Russel would often arrive late or miss visits and sometimes appeared to be under the influence during visits.
Both parents told caseworkers that transportation problems kept them from working on their case plans. In response caseworkers offered them mileage reimbursement, cab fare reimbursement, and bus passes.
Partway through the case, a caseworker evaluated Russel's and Jennifer's progress on their case plans. The caseworker reported that both parents had participated in services "inconsistently," had not participated in UAs, had not maintained contact with OCS, and had not "mitigated the safety concerns that brought [Hillary] into custody." The caseworker also updated both parents' case plans. She reported that neither parent worked with her to update the case plans or go through the evaluations despite OCS's attempt to encourage the parents to collaborate in the process.
There is some uncertainty in the record about whether a caseworker was assigned to the parents' cases between April and July 2021. An OCS supervisor testified that she scheduled a meeting with Jennifer and Russel in May 2021, but neither parent showed up. By July 2021 a new caseworker had been assigned.
In September 2021 OCS petitioned for termination of Jennifer's and Russel's parental rights.
In December 2021 Jennifer was arrested for shoplifting and heroin possession. A few months later Jennifer and Russel were both arrested on other charges and were incarcerated for most of April 2020. Due to these charges and Jennifer's earlier charges, she was incarcerated for most of April. Jennifer testified that she participated in UAs while incarcerated. A caseworker testified that Russel completed one UA after being charged, receiving a negative result.
A four-day trial was held in June and July 2022. After trial the superior court terminated both Jennifer's and Russel's parental rights.[4] The court found that Hillary was a child in need of aid based on clear and convincing evidence of abandonment, substance abuse, and neglect.[5] In support of its abandonment finding, the superior court found that both Jennifer and Russel had "shown a conscious disregard of parental responsibilities toward [Hillary] by failing to provide reasonable support, maintain regular contact, or provide normal supervision in considering the child's age and need for care by an adult." It also found they had failed to engage in their case plans. The court found that Jennifer faked her UA at the hospital, which showed that "the issue from the beginning [was] substances," but, despite having case plans developed for them, the parents did not work with OCS. And the court found that their behavior only started to change "a little bit" at the end of the case.
The court found that both parents had participated in services "inconsistently," and it listed things the parents could have done: obtained UAs, attended more visits, and signed releases of information so OCS could check on their progress. The court stated that Jennifer could have participated in the recommended services for substance abuse and found that it was "clear to the [c]ourt that [Russel] was using" because he failed to participate in drug testing.
Regarding substance abuse the superior court found that Jennifer used heroin both while pregnant and after Hillary was born. As evidence of Jennifer's substance abuse, the court pointed to the positive meconium test, her failure to complete the UAs OCS recommended, and her recent criminal charges. The court found that Jennifer's ...
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