In re Avia M.

IN RE AVIA M.^[1]

No. H14CP16011696A

Superior Court of Connecticut, Judicial District of New Britain, New Britain, Juvenile Matters

April 3, 2018

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

OPINION

STEPHEN F. FRAZZINI, JUDGE TRIAL REFEREE

Avia M., the child named above, is two years old,^[2] and she needs a sober, competent caretaker and a safe and stable home. Claiming that her parents can provide her with neither, on May 2, 2017, the Commissioner of Children and Families (the commissioner) filed the pending petition to terminate their parental rights (TPR) under General Statutes § 17a-112. As statutory grounds for termination, the petition alleges pursuant to § 17a-112(j)(3)(b)(i), that the child was previously found neglected and that both parents have failed to rehabilitate such that they can assume a responsible position in the child’s life in a reasonable time. The petition also alleges, pursuant to § 17a-112(j)(3)(E), that the child is less than seven years of age and neglected, and that the father has both failed to rehabilitate and has lost parental rights as a consequence of another TPR petition for a different child. The petition further claims that termination is in the child’s best interest. Both parents appeared on the initial hearing date for the petition and after being appointed counsel and advised of their rights denied the allegations of the petition. Trial was then scheduled for two days in January 2018. For the reasons discussed below, the petition is granted and the commissioner is appointed statutory parent for the child.

Trial began on January 8, 2018, and evidence continued for two more days. When the father, Antonio M., failed to appear on the first day of trial, a default was entered against him pursuant to Practice Book § 35a-8(1).^[3] The petitioner’s motion to amend the petition to include additional factual allegations was thereafter granted without objection. Before evidence began, the mother, Agniescka G., was advised in accordance with In re Yasiel R., 317 Conn. 773, 794, 120 A.3d 1188 (2015). The court also granted the petitioner’s motion for judicial notice and notified the parties that, pursuant to § 2-1 of the Connecticut Code of Evidence, it would take judicial notice of the contents of the court files, including memoranda of hearings and court orders, involving this child and her maternal and paternal half-siblings except that factual assertions contained in pleadings, motions, or other documents filed by the parties would be taken as substantively true only if independent evidence thereof was introduced and found credible in this proceeding or was subject to the finality principles of res judicata or collateral estoppel.

During trial, the court heard testimony from the following witnesses:^[4]

Amber Orvis, a social worker employed by the Department of Children and Families (DCF or department) who was assigned to a child protection investigation in 2014 when the New Britain Police Department notified DCF about domestic violence between these parents in the presence of Aaliya,

Avia’s older maternal half-sibling who was then nine years old, and again in 2016, when The Hospital of Central Connecticut notified DCF that Ms. G. had tested positive for cocaine and marijuana^[5] at the time of Avia’s birth, and who is the author of the TPR social study;

Kristi Shooner, a DCF social worker who has supervised some of the mother’s visits with the child;

Kara Fazzolari, a DCF social worker previously assigned to the cases for Avia and Aaliya and who is the author of the addendum to the TPR social study;

Alison Sroka, the DCF social worker currently assigned to Avia’s case; Samantha Larkin, a residential counselor at the New Life Center (NLC), which is an inpatient mother-child substance abuse treatment program of Community Health Resources (CHR) and where Ms. G. resided between April and November of 2016;

Lori Bergeron, a counselor at CHR’s Milestone Program, an inpatient substance abuse treatment program at which Ms. G. was a patient from November 28, 2017, until she was successfully discharged from that program approximately thirty days later; ^[6]

Diane Gediman, a case manager for the Supportive Housing for Families Program, which is funded by DCF through a contract with The Connection and subcontract with Wheeler Clinic and who provided housing assistance and case management services to Ms. G.;

Daniel Millstein, a licensed clinical social worker employed by the Farrell Treatment Center (FTC), which provides treatment for substance abuse and " co-occurring disorders" and at which the mother has been a client during three periods relevant to these proceedings;

Officer Matthew Morczko, of the New Britain Police Department, who concluded there was no probable cause for an arrest after investigating a report made by Ms. G. on August 22, 2017, that Mr. M. had accosted and injured her in her own dwelling;

Officer Timothy Bradle of the Berlin Police Department, who arrested the mother on November 5, 2017, after finding her intoxicated and sitting in the driver’s seat of a motor vehicle that had a key in the ignition and " was in someone’s yard next to a basketball court" ; Transcript of testimony on January 8, 2018, p. 21;

Tina Schaffer, the director of admissions at the American Institute, a school offering vocational medical programs and at which Ms. G. has enrolled in a program to become a Certified Nurse’s Assistant.

In addition, the parties introduced the following exhibits into evidence:

The specific steps ordered on numerous occasions for the father and mother to take in order reunite with Avia;

The TPR social study dated April 24, 2017, and an addendum dated December 13, 2017;

Copy of a Memorandum of Decision in In re Antonio S., Superior Court for Juvenile Matters, Twelfth District at Hartford, docket no. H12-CP97-004596-A (January 16, 2009), terminating the parental rights of this respondent father to the minor child in that petition brought by the Commissioner of Children and Families;

The DCF " Investigation Protocol," with certain redactions, narrating the department’s response, investigations, findings and conclusions upon being notified that the toxicology screens after Ms. G. gave birth to Avia were positive for cocaine and marijuana.

The following records from Community Health Resources:

The Adult Clinical Assessment form done at the mother’s admission to CHR’s New Life Center on April 29, 2016;

A CHR " Drug/Breathalyzer Results" form dated April 30, 2016, and showing positive breathalyzer tests for cocaine and THC for the mother upon her admission to the New Life Center on that date;

Excerpts from the treatment records for the mother while she attended the New Life Center;

The Discharge Form completed when she left the NLC on November 14, 2016;

The Adult Clinical Assessment form done at the mother’s admission to CHR’s inpatient Milestone Program on November 29, 2017;

Excerpts from Ms. G.’s treatment notes while she was at the Milestone Program;

Excerpts from the Discharge Form completed upon Ms. G.’s successful discharge from the Milestone Program.

A copy of the DCF Form 136, Report of Suspected Child Abuse or Neglect, submitted to the department on November 7, 2016, by a residential aide at the New Life Center after the mother returned there from a day pass on that date and " admitted to relapsing and driving under the influence with her infant daughter in the car." Petitioner’s exhibit 12;

The following records from Community Mental Health Affiliates (CMHA):

The Intake Assessment Form prepared when the mother entered the Adult Intensive Outpatient Program there on March 9 2017; and

The Discharge Referral and Recommendations form prepared when she was discharged from that facility on May 8, 2017 " due to needing a higher level of care at this time." Petitioner’s exhibit 30, p. 1.

Excerpts from the DCF Running Narrative for January 20, 23, and 25, 2017; May 8 and 9, 2017; and June 12 and 16, 2017; The following records from the Farrell Treatment Center:

The Recovery and Treatment Plan, dated September 19, 2017, for the mother at the Farrell Treatment Center;

Results of drug tests performed on the mother at Quest Diagnostics on various dates in 2017 when she was a patient at the Farrell Treatment Center.

The resume of Daniel J. Millstein;

The following records from The Connection, the agency that contracts with Wheeler Clinic to administer the Supportive Housing Program:

DCF Monthly Client Contact Reports regarding the mother’s interactions in particular months with her case manager for the program between October 2016 and February 2017; ^[7] and

Excerpts from Client Chronological Notes between September 1, 2017, and December 2, 2018.

Treatment records for the mother from Hartford Healthcare (HHC) when she went to HHC’s Plainville facility on various occasions in 2017 and when she went to The Hospital of Central Connecticut on August 27, 2017, complaining that she had been assaulted earlier that day by the father;

A 21-page document entitled " Participant Profile" from the Prudence Crandall Center dated January 8, 2018, regarding Ms. G.’s contacts with that program on various dates between October 1, 2013, and October 12, 2017;

The following records prepared by the mother’s therapist, Ronald Klemba, from the Healing House of CT: " Mental Health Care Plan" dated April 12, 2017; a letter regarding her treatment there and diagnosis dated October 4, 2017; and " Psychotherapy Treatment Records" of individual therapy sessions between January 2017 and January 2018;

Copies of police reports, some of which contained redactions, from the New Britain Police Department for incidents occurring on the following dates:

February 16, 2015 (when the father was taken to a hospital for observation after he sent

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