People ex rel. D.Y.

• Citation: 176 P.3d 874
• Decision Date: 27 December 2007
• Docket Number: No. 07CA1434.,07CA1434.
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Petitioner-Appellee, In the Interest of D.Y., a Child, and Concerning T.Y., Respondent-Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Colorado

176 P.3d 874

The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Petitioner-Appellee,

In the Interest of D.Y., a Child, and Concerning T.Y., Respondent-Appellant.

No. 07CA1434.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Div. III.

December 27, 2007.

No Appearance for Petitioner-Appellee.

Margaret J. Russell, Guardian Ad Litem.

Gretchen Stuhr, Alamosa, Colorado, for Respondent-Appellant.

Opinion by Judge TAUBMAN.

T.Y. (father) appeals from the judgment terminating the parent-child legal relationship between him and his son, D.Y. (child). We first address father's assertion that he was not given sufficient time to comply with the treatment plan and, therefore, termination could not be based on a finding of unfitness or failure to change within a reasonable amount of time. We agree, and, therefore, reverse and remand.

The child was removed from mother's care shortly after he was born on October 12, 2006, because the child was born with signs of cocaine exposure in utero.

Shortly before the child was born, the county department of social services (department) filed a petition in dependency or neglect against mother and the father of mother's other child. After D.Y. was born, the petition was amended to include D.Y. and father. Although father initially contested paternity and adjudication of the child, he agreed to enter an admission to the petition on February 2, 2007. Thus, father's treatment plan was not adopted until March 6, 2007. The plan required father, among other things, to actively participate in and complete the Nurturing Parenting class, visit the child a minimum of four hours weekly, commit no criminal violations, obtain appropriate stable housing, and not abuse alcohol, drugs, or prescription drugs. However, the department filed a motion to terminate father's parental rights on March 29, 2007, only twenty-three days after adoption of the treatment plan, and the termination hearing was immediately scheduled for June 11, 2007.

At the commencement of the hearing, father objected to the lack of evidence that he had abused alcohol or drugs, asserted that he had been given insufficient time to comply with the treatment plan, and maintained that he had five months left before its completion date.

Following the termination hearing, father's parental rights were terminated in a bench ruling on June 11. The trial court summarily rejected father's contention that he had not been afforded sufficient time to comply with the treatment plan and concluded that father had not reasonably complied with the treatment plan because he had not attended visitation with the child as set forth in the treatment plan, had excessively used alcohol and controlled substances, and had not established a stable home for the child. The trial court's bench ruling was supplemented by a written termination order dated July 21, 2007.

To terminate the parent-child legal relationship pursuant to section 19-3-604(1)(c), C.R.S.2007, clear and convincing evidence must establish, as relevant here, that an appropriate treatment plan, approved by the trial court, has not been reasonably complied with by the parent or has not been successful in rehabilitating the parent; that the parent is unfit; and that the parent's conduct or condition is unlikely to change within a reasonable time. People in Interest of T.D., 140 P.3d 205, 218 (Colo.App.2006).

In determining a parent's unfitness for the purposes of section 19-3-604(1)(c)(11), C.R.S.2007, the trial court may consider whether reasonable efforts by child-caring agencies have been unable to rehabilitate the parent. § 19-3-604(2)(h), C.R.S.2007; People in Interest of D.G., 140 P.3d 299, 302 (Colo. App.2006). Reasonable efforts include providing services to facilitate, if appropriate, the speedy reunification of parents with the children who have been placed out of the home and individual case plans. § 19-3-208(2)(a)(IV), (b)(I), C.R.S.2007.

Section 19-3-604(2), C.R.S.2007; also provides that, lilt' determining unfitness," the trial court must find "that continuation of the legal relationship between parent and child is likely to result in grave risk of death or serious bodily injury to the child" or that the parent's conduct or condition "renders [him or her] unable or unwilling to give the child reasonable parental care." People in Interest of K.T., 129 P.3d 1080, 1081 (Colo.App. 2005).

A parent has a fundamental liberty interest in the care, custody, and management of his or her child. See B.B. v. People, 785 P.2d 132, 136 (Colo.1990); People in Interest of A.M.D., 648 P.2d 625, 632 (Colo.1982). Thus, a treatment plan is designed to preserve the parent-child legal relationship by assisting the parent in overcoming the problems that required intervention into the family. D.G., 140 P.3d at 304.

Although the dependency and neglect statutes encourage expedited permanency planning and the streamlined provision of entitlement, services, see § 19-3-100.5, C.R.S.2007, no statute specifies a minimum period between the date of a court-approved treatment plan and the date of filing a motion to terminate parental rights. Similarly, no statute specifies a minimum period between the date of a court-approved treatment plan and the date of a hearing on termination of parental rights.

Nevertheless, several statutes seek to strike a balance between the constitutional rights of a respondent-parent and the best interests of a child in obtaining permanency. For example, section 19-3-508(1), C.R.S. 2007, provides that when a child has been adjudicated dependent or neglected, the court may enter a decree of disposition the same day. In any event, however, it shall do so within forty-five days unless the court finds that the best interests of the child would be served by granting a delay. That statute further sets forth the General Assembly's intent that a dispositional hearing be held on the same day as the adjudicatory hearing whenever possible.

Further, section 19-3-702(1), C.R.S.2007, provides in pertinent part that if a child is under six years of age at the time a petition in dependency or neglect is filed, the permanency hearing shall be held no later than three months after the decree of disposition of the child. Also, section 19-3-602(1), C.R.S.2007, provides that a motion to terminate parental rights shall be filed at least thirty days before a hearing on the motion and, if the child is under six years of age at the time the action was...