Lehman v. Lycoming County Children's Services Agency

• Decision Date: 31 March 1981
• Docket Number: No. 79-2466,79-2466
• Citation: 648 F.2d 135
• Parties: LEHMAN, Marjorie, on behalf of her children, William Lehman, Mark Lehman, Frank Lehman v. LYCOMING COUNTY CHILDREN'S SERVICES AGENCY, Marjorie Lehman and her children on whose behalf this action was filed, Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 135

648 F.2d 135

LEHMAN, Marjorie, on behalf of her children, William Lehman Mark Lehman, Frank Lehman v. LYCOMING COUNTY CHILDREN'S SERVICES AGENCY, Marjorie Lehman and her children on whose behalf this action was filed, Appellants.

No. 79-2466.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Argued March 27, 1980 before ROSENN, GARTH and SLOVITER,

Circuit Judges.

Reargued In Banc Nov. 17, 1980.

Decided March 31, 1981.

As Amended April 6, 7 and 13, 1981.

Martin Guggenheim (Argued), New York City, Warren R. Baldys, Jr., Baldys & Baldys, Williamsport, Pa., Thomas Harvey, American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellants.

Charles F. Greevy, III, Argued, Greevy, Greevy & Greevy, Williamsport, Pa., for appellee.

Before SEITZ, Chief Judge, and ALDISERT, ADAMS, GIBBONS, ROSENN, HUNTER, WEIS, GARTH, HIGGINBOTHAM and SLOVITER, Circuit Judges.

OPINION ANNOUNCING THE JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

GARTH, Circuit Judge.

This case requires us to determine whether a petition for a writ of habeas corpus is available for a federal constitutional challenge to Pennsylvania's statutory scheme for involuntarily terminating a parent's rights in her children. We hold that habeas corpus is not appropriate for the constitutional challenge here, and thus we affirm the district court's dismissal of Ms. Lehman's petition.

I.

The facts giving rise to the instant petition are detailed in full in In re William L., 477 Pa. 322, 383 A.2d 1228, cert. denied, 439 U.S. 880, 99 S.Ct. 216, 58 L.Ed.2d 192 (1978), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision which held that Ms. Lehman's parental rights were properly terminated under a constitutional act. We recount some of the relevant circumstances drawn from the factual recital of that case, not to evaluate the merits of Ms. Lehman's constitutional claims, but rather to determine whether these facts constitute an extraordinary case impinging with especial harshness on personal liberty the hallmark for determining whether the requirement for the habeas corpus has been satisfied.

In June, 1971, appellant Marjorie Lehman, then age 39, was living with her three sons who are the subject of this proceeding: Frank, then age 7, William, then age 5, and Mark, then age 1. At that time she was pregnant with her youngest daughter Tracie. Tracie has lived with her mother since her birth. Ms. Lehman's eldest child, Carol, has lived with Ms. Lehman's parents for many years, and Ms. Lehman does not seek her return. In June, 1971, when pregnant with Tracie, Ms. Lehman voluntarily surrendered custody of her three sons to the Lycoming County Children's Services Agency (the Agency). Ms. Lehman had come to the attention of the Agency sometime earlier as a result of the deplorable living conditions that obtained in her apartment. Ms. Lehman and the caseworker agreed that the home was unfit for children.

After Tracie's birth, the Agency helped Ms. Lehman find a new apartment. Ms. Lehman vacillated between seeking an apartment large enough to accommodate only herself and Tracie, and one large enough for the three boys as well. She ultimately selected one suitable only for Tracie and herself. The boys remained in foster care. In November, 1974, more than three years after she had surrendered custody of her sons, Ms. Lehman requested that the boys be returned to her. At the time, she was still in the apartment suitable only for Tracie and herself. The Agency, concluding that Ms. Lehman could not provide her sons with necessary support and supervision, declined to return them. The Agency then filed a petition in the Court of Common Pleas of Lycoming County under section 311(2) of the Pennsylvania Adoption Act of 1970, ¹ seeking to terminate Ms. Lehman's parental rights in the three boys, so that they could be placed for adoption without Ms. Lehman's consent.

Most of the evidence at the hearing on this petition consisted of the testimony of nutrition aides and caseworkers from the Agency who had visited with Ms. Lehman. After Tracie's birth, nutrition aides began regular visits to Ms. Lehman's home to help her maintain the household and raise her infant daughter. Ms. Lehman came to rely heavily on these aides to perform even the simplest tasks of everyday life. She made little or no progress in learning to handle problems without assistance. A series of incidents illustrates the depth of Ms. Lehman's incapacity. On one occasion, Tracie was sent home from school because she had lice. The nutrition aide could not make Ms. Lehman understand the need to rid Tracie of the lice or how to perform the simple procedure to achieve this result. Ultimately, as Tracie became upset about missing school, the aide herself was forced to perform the treatments.

On several occasions, Ms. Lehman has had her heat and electricity terminated for her failure to pay the bills. Once, Ms. Lehman sought emergency financial assistance to pay bills for rent, gas, water and electricity that she believed were due. On inquiry, the aide discovered that Ms. Lehman had already paid all of these bills. There was also other evidence of Ms. Lehman's incapacity to conduct her financial affairs responsibly. She told the aides on several occasions of making payment for items, such as toys, that were never delivered. She also told them of turning over her social security checks, her sole source of income, to creditors who would cash the checks, deduct amounts allegedly owed, and return to Ms. Lehman the difference.

As a result of Ms. Lehman's incapacities and the long period almost a decade since her sons have lived with her, relations between Ms. Lehman and the boys have deteriorated. The boys visited their mother in her apartment twice a month during late 1975 and early 1976 under a court ordered visitation plan. Aides present during these visits described them as "free-for-alls" in which Ms. Lehman would chase, in succession, each of the children about the apartment seeking to establish control. The two older boys appeared to do no more than tolerate their mother. The youngest boy, who has lived with a foster family since his first birthday, spent these visits watching television. Each of the boys testified in chambers that he did not want to live with his mother. The oldest boy admitted that he would not obey his mother and that she could not control him.

Other evidence at the hearing focused on Ms. Lehman's intellectual and social skills. A psychologist who administered a series of tests reported that Ms. Lehman has a mental age of six years, ten months, and that her social skills and ability to function independently were those of a twelve year old. The psychologist opined that Ms. Lehman lacked the social and intellectual maturity necessary to raise children.

Based on this testimony, the Court of Common Pleas found the appellant irremediably "incapable of providing minimal care, control and supervision for the three children." In re William Lehman, Nos. 2986-88, slip op. at 4 (C.P. Lycoming Co., June 3, 1976). The court rejected Ms. Lehman's argument that section 311 of the Pennsylvania Adoption Act was unconstitutionally vague. Accordingly, the Common Pleas Court terminated Ms. Lehman's parental rights in her three sons, making them eligible for adoption. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that the adoption statute was neither unconstitutionally vague nor violative of substantive due process and then found that the lower court's termination of Ms. Lehman's parental rights was supported by competent evidence, ² In re William L., 477 Pa. 322, 383 A.2d 1228, cert. denied, 439 U.S. 880, 99 S.Ct. 216, 58 L.Ed.2d 192 (1978).

Ms. Lehman's petition for a writ of certiorari was denied, 439 U.S. 880, 99 S.Ct. 216, 58 L.Ed.2d 192 (1978), and thereafter she filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus "on behalf of" her three sons in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. ³ The petition asserted that the Pennsylvania Adoption Act was unconstitutional as applied and/or on its face, and sought the return of the children. It also sought a declaration that Ms. Lehman was their legal parent, or, in the alternative, the release of the children from the Agency's custody unless within sixty days "a hearing is held in the appropriate state court and it is judicially determined to be in the best interests of The Children that temporary custody should remain with the (A)gency."

The district court dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction, Lehman v. Lycoming County Children's Services Agency, No. 79-65 (M.D.Pa. Sept. 4, 1979), relying substantially on the holding of the First Circuit in Sylvander v. New England Home for Little Wanderers, 584 F.2d 1103 (1st Cir. 1978).

On July 23, 1980 a divided panel of this court reversed the district court. It held that "federal habeas corpus jurisdiction may be invoked to challenge the constitutionality of a state statute by which the state has taken custody of children and has terminated without consent the rights of a natural parent to them." Lehman v. Lycoming County Children's Services Agency, No. 79-2466, slip op. at 24, (3d Cir. July 23, 1980), vacated and rehearing en banc granted (August 15, 1980). Thereafter rehearing before the court en banc was ordered.

II.

A habeas corpus action differs from other constitutional challenges in one exceedingly important respect. All other litigational claims, constitutional and non-constitutional, are subject to the doctrine of res judicata. That principle precludes a litigant who has fully and freely pressed a claim or defense in one court from obtaining a second adjudication of that claim or defense. ⁴

Society, and hence, the law has a critical interest in finality, which is the basis for the doctrine of res judicata. In normal litigation, our jurisprudence dictates that this degree of finality has been reached after consideration by a court of original jurisdiction and a court of review. Thus the...