Shreve, In re, 3591
| Decision Date | 06 October 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 3591,3591 |
| Citation | 432 P.2d 271 |
| Parties | In the Matter of the Parental Rights of Mervin SHREVE, Eugene Shreve, Leva Shreve, Theresa Shreve and Karen Shreve. Dona DISSELLE, Appellant (Respondent below), v. The STATE of Wyoming ex rel. SHERIDAN COUNTY WELFARE DEPARTMENT, Appellee(Petitioner below). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Bruce P. Badley, Sheridan, for appellant.
William D. Norman, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., Cheyenne, for appellee.
Before HARNSBERGER, C. J., and GRAY, McINTYRE, and PARKER, JJ.
The County Attorney of Sheridan County, purporting to act under the authority of § 14-53 ff., W.S.1957, filed a petition alleging that Dona Griffen (formerly Dona Shreve and at the time of the trial Dona Disselle) was the natural mother of five Shreve children: Mervin, age nine; Eugene, age seven; Leva, age six; Theresa, age four; Karen, age three; then living with Leva Anderson, their grandmother; that the mother was an unfit person to have the permanent care, custody, and control of the children by reason of her abuse and neglect of them; and that the best interests of the children required their being placed under the jurisdiction of the court and the custody and guardianship awarded to the father, Alvin Shreve, or another suitable person. Petitioner upon these allegations sought termination of the parental rights of the mother, the appointment by the court of a suitable guardian for the minor children, and the granting of temporary custody to a suitable person. Summons and citation was served upon Dona Griffen and also upon Alvin Shreve, who had been previously married to the children's mother, divorced from her in 1956, remarried the same year, and again divorced in 1960 by a Montana court. He filed an answer, praying that the parental rights of the mother be terminated and that the children be placed in the care, custody and control of his sister and brother-in-law, Margaret and Vern Dillon of Odessa, Missouri. Mrs. Disselle filed an answer, denying generally all of the state's allegations and asserting that she was capable of taking care of the children and requesting the dismissal of the petition. The Dillons filed a written offer to accept the custody of the minor children, and Leva Anderson, the maternal grandmother, filed a similar offer.
Following a hearing, before the trial court without a jury, where evidence was adduced, the court issued two orders, the first finding that the natural mother had neglected the children and was therefore an unfit parent, terminated her parental rights by reason of neglect, and decreed the temporary care, custody and control to the Sheridan County Department of Public Welfare as guardian. Thereafter, the court, upon the petition of the welfare director, issued the second order, providing that the department place the minor children with the Dillons at Odessa, Missouri, on a trial, foster-home basis, and that the father, Alvin Shreve, make his current, child-support payments to the Dillons, the trial court retaining jurisdiction over all parties.
Mrs. Disselle has appealed, urging that the evidence produced by the State was insufficient to support the decision of the trial court, that the court erred in receiving into evidence three different exhibits consisting of reports of the welfare department, and that the Act under which the proceedings were brought is unconstitutional. 1
An examination of the record discloses in the evidence adduced by the State in its case in chief little which could...
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Knudson v. Hilzer
... ... Where unconstitutionality of a statute was not raised in the trial court, we, as a reviewing court, will not hear the matter. In re Shreve, Wyo.1967, 432 P.2d 271; State ex rel. Fire Fighters Local 279, I.A.F.F., v. Kingham, Wyo.1966, 420 P.2d 254; Sorenson v. School District No. 28, in ... ...
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Higby v. State
... ... 3 In re Shreve, Wyo., 432 P.2d 271, 273; Beck v. Washington, 369 U.S. 541, 82 S.Ct. 955, 8 L.Ed.2d 98, 107 (rehearing denied 370 U.S. 965, 82 S.Ct. 1575, 8 L.Ed.2d ... ...
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DS v. Department of Public Assistance and Social Services, CF
... ... This issue was before us in Matter of C. M., supra, at 556 P.2d 518; and see In re Shreve, Wyo., 432 P.2d 271 (1967). However, we did not, in those appeals, undertake to define the standard against which a claim of parental abuse or ... ...
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Gailey v. State, 93-159
... ... Feeney, 714 P.2d at 1230. See also Herman v. Speed King Mfg. Co., 675 P.2d 1271, 1279 (Wyo.1984) and In re Shreve, 432 P.2d 271, 273 (Wyo.1967). We will not acquiesce to Gailey's implication that the district court was unable to " 'sift the wheat from the chaff' ... ...