Hilton v. King & Queen Cnty. Dep't of Soc. Servs.

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BELYNDA HILTON v. KING AND QUEEN COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES

No. 0379-23-2

Court of Appeals of Virginia

June 11, 2024

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF KING AND QUEEN COUNTY B. Elliott Bondurant, Judge

Deborah S. Goodwin (Akers & Cleator Law Group, P.L.L.C. on brief), for appellant.

Julie Churchill (Carla Blake Hook; Louise Moore, Guardian ad litem for the minor children; The Law Office of Carla B. Hook Louise A. Moore, Esquire LLC, on brief), for appellee.

Present: Judges Beales, AtLee and Malveaux Argued at Richmond, Virginia

MEMORANDUM OPINION^[*]

RANDOLPH A. BEALES, JUDGE

Belynda Hilton ("mother") appeals the Circuit Court of King and Queen County's orders terminating her parental rights to her children, J.F. and I.A.^[1] Mother argues that the circuit court erred in finding that the King and Queen County Department of Social Services (the "Department") presented clear and convincing evidence to support the termination of her parental rights under Code § 16.1-283(B) and Code § 16.1-283(C)(2) and that the termination was in the best interests of the children.

I. BACKGROUND^[2]

"On appeal, 'we view the evidence and all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the prevailing party below, in this case the Department.'" Joyce v. Botetourt Cnty. Dep't of Soc. Servs., 75 Va.App. 690, 695 (2022) (quoting C. Farrell v. Warren Cnty. Dep't of Soc. Servs., 59 Va.App. 375, 386 (2012)).

Mother and Timothy Adkins ("father") are the biological parents of I.A. Mother is also the biological parent of J.F. and P.G., who are not father's biological children. Mother has a fourth child, B.G., who is in the custody of mother's stepfather. Father has four other children, but he has had limited contact with them. Father has also appealed the circuit court's judgment to terminate his parental rights to I.A. See Adkins v. King & Queen Cnty. Dep't of Soc. Servs., No. 0354-23-2 (Va. Ct. App. June 11, 2024).

The Department has been involved with the family since at least 2017 for allegations of physical neglect and abuse. Angela Land, a case worker with the Department who was familiar with the family but was not formally assigned to the case until June 2022, testified at the circuit court's termination hearing that in December 2019, I.A. was born substance-exposed, and mother tested positive for marijuana. In November 2020, the Department received a report from school officials that J.F. "was lethargic, he had a low pulse rate, and that his respiratory [rate] was low." Mother claimed that J.F. "had not been sleeping at night and on that particular night she gave him 6 milligrams of melatonin to help him sleep," which resulted in J.F.'s hospitalization.

Shannon Mitchell, a case worker with the Department who was assigned to the family from February 2021 to November 2021, testified that in February 2021, mother, father, J.F., and I.A. lived in a home at "the top of the hill," while mother's sister (Crystal Hilton), Crystal's boyfriend, and P.G. lived in a home on the same property at the "bottom of the hill." The Department intervened that same month after receiving reports that mother "was using Percocet heavily and had been observed speaking to [J.F.] in a very negative way and yelling at him." When the Department went to visit mother's home the next day, it learned that mother was at a hospital in Richmond with P.G., who "had overdosed the previous night" after attempting to commit suicide by "taking a whole bunch of pills." When the hospital released P.G., it provided mother with contact information for counseling services and instructions regarding P.G.'s supervision and care, including removing all weapons from the home.

After P.G.'s release from the hospital, mother allowed her son to return to Crystal's home rather than to stay with mother, despite her knowing that Crystal used drugs and that Crystal's boyfriend had pending drug charges. On February 20, 2021, about a week after his release from the hospital, P.G. committed suicide by using a firearm. He left a note stating that "he was tired of the drugs, the hate, and the fighting." Adkins was incarcerated at the time that P.G. committed suicide.

Mother told the Department that she "was unaware of where [P.G.] had gotten the firearm or where he had gained access to it and that she didn't know that he had any plans to harm himself." She thought that the gun might have belonged to her brother, who had previously brought a handgun into Crystal's home that subsequently could not be located although the brother did not ever report the gun as missing or stolen. Mother admitted to the Department that she "was using Percocet that was not prescribed to her, that it was provided to her by an ex-boyfriend who resided in Gloucester and that she was using it to address the pain of having a recent miscarriage." Mother also told the Department that she

smoked marijuana on a daily basis because it helped with her anxiety and that she was honest with her children about her use of marijuana but she didn't do that in front of them, that she would send the children away if she were smoking marijuana if they attempted to be around her when she was smoking.

Several days later, the Department returned to mother's home and met with father, who "had recently been bonded from jail and was in the home." Father told the Department that he believed that the gun P.G. had used to commit suicide had belonged to mother's brother, who father claimed was a felon on the North Carolina sex offender registry and was selling drugs out of Crystal's home. Father reported that mother and P.G. "did not have a good relationship" and that P.G. "had no respect for his mother because of the things that she had said and done to him." Father was concerned about mother's drug use and "the way that she spoke to the children" because he claimed that she had called them derogatory names, which mother denied. Father admitted to having a "little problem with meth" and that he had been arrested for driving under the influence in December 2020.

Following its investigation, the Department made "Level 1 findings for physical neglect, lack of supervision" against mother for J.F., I.A., and P.G. The Department petitioned to remove J.F. and I.A. from mother's home, and the children entered foster care on February 26, 2021. The King and Queen County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court (the "JDR court") adjudicated that J.F. and I.A. were abused or neglected, and it entered dispositional orders.

After the children entered foster care, the Department established certain requirements that mother had to meet before she could be reunited with her children. The requirements included that "she was responsible for maintaining sobriety and abstaining from any illegal substances, to include those that were not prescribed to her"; she "was responsible for attending, participating, and following all recommendations of substance use assessment"; she "was responsible for attending and participating in and following all recommendations of a mental health assessment and individual counseling appointments, developing coping skills and demonstrating them"; she was "responsible for attending appointments, completing and following through with all recommendations of the parental capacity evaluation"; she "was responsible for participating in parent coaching sessions, attending and participating in visitation, parenting time appointments, and demonstrating appropriate behavior during visits"; she was "responsible for maintaining a safe and stable and appropriate home for the children"; and "she was responsible for obtaining employment and demonstrating the ability to provide for the children."

Mother completed a parental capacity evaluation. The evaluators found that mother was generally uncooperative and that she was "emotionally dysregulated, and her moods were unpredictable." The evaluators expressed significant concerns about mother's "ability to keep her children safe and meet their needs," and they determined that mother "needs substantial treatment and support to develop the emotional regulation and parenting skills necessary to properly care for her children." They also expressed concerns about mother's volatility, her violent tendencies, her frequent name calling and yelling, her drug use, and her domestic violence and abuse. The evaluators recommended that mother "participate in an intensive outpatient substance abuse program" and, if unsuccessful, then enter inpatient treatment. They also recommended that mother participate in a psychological evaluation, an individualized parenting program, individual counseling, a medication evaluation, and either co-parenting counseling or couples counseling with father.

Mother did not complete an approved individualized parenting program, co-parenting counseling, or mental health assessment. However, mother did complete several programs through Healthy Families, including classes on "Guiding Positive Behavior" and "Healthy Relationships and Communication," as well as "Weekly Video Chat Groups." She also attended individual trauma counseling sessions through the Middle Peninsula Northern Neck Community Services Board.

Beginning in March 2021, the Department referred mother to the Community Services Board for a substance abuse assessment and treatment. Although mother completed the intake process, she only attended one session. The JDR court ordered mother to participate in inpatient treatment, but mother never attended a program.

In late June 2022, mother tested positive for amphetamines, codeine cannabis, methamphetamine, and oxycodone. Mother denied using methamphetamine, and she claimed that she only tested positive for that substance because she had...