In re B.J.H.

378 N.C. 524

862 S.E.2d 784

In the MATTER OF: B.J.H. and J.E.H.

No. 411A20

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Filed September 24, 2021

James N. Freeman Jr., Elkin, for petitioner-appellee Yadkin County Human Services Agency.

Paul W. Freeman Jr., Wilkesboro, for appellee Guardian ad Litem.

Christopher M. Watford, for respondent-appellant father.

David A. Perez, Thomasville, for respondent-appellant mother.

MORGAN, Justice.

¶ 1 Respondent-mother and respondent-father (together, respondents) appeal from the trial court's order terminating their respective parental rights to the juveniles "Ben" and "John."¹ Respondents challenge the evidentiary basis for certain findings of fact made by the trial court. Respondents also dispute the ability of the trial court's findings to support a conclusion that grounds existed to terminate their parental rights to the two juveniles. Because we conclude that the evidence is sufficient to yield findings of fact which amply support the ground for terminating the parental rights of both respondent-mother and respondent-father for willful failure to make reasonable progress under N.C.G.S. § 7B-1111(a)(2) (2019), we affirm the trial court's order terminating both respondents’ parental rights.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

¶ 2 On 20 January 2017, Wilkes County Department of Social Services (WCDSS) received a Child Protective Services (CPS) referral alleging that respondents were homeless, that respondents were struggling to provide for their two minor children Ben and John, and that Ben had tested positive for Subutex² at the time of his birth. An investigation conducted by WCDSS confirmed that the family was homeless. While respondent-mother and the children stayed with relatives for a brief period of time during the pendency of the investigation, they were asked to leave when burn marks were discovered in the bedroom which was being occupied by respondent-mother. Respondent-mother entered into an In-Home Family Services Agreement with WCDSS on 5 April 2017. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, respondent-mother was to obtain a substance abuse assessment, to submit to random drug screens, and to complete parenting classes. Respondent-mother tested positive for the presence of methamphetamine four times between 25 January 2017 and 12 April 2017, and she completed a substance abuse assessment which resulted in diagnoses of generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and amphetamine use disorder (severe).

¶ 3 WCDSS transferred respondents’ case to Yadkin County Human Services Agency (YCHSA) in May 2017 after respondent-mother, Ben, and John began to reside with respondent-mother's grandmother. Although respondent-mother attended three substance abuse counseling sessions, she missed several appointments and continued to test positive for methamphetamine. Also, respondent-mother attended only four of the ten parenting classes which she was assigned to complete. WCDSS and YCHSA unsuccessfully attempted to contact respondent-father on at least thirty-eight occasions while providing services to the family. The efforts of the agencies to communicate with respondent-father included their request of respondent-mother to ask respondent-father to contact the agencies, due to respondents’ contact with one another and the agencies’ ongoing inability to contact respondent-father. During the course of the family's involvement with WCDSS and YCHSA, respondent-father did not provide care for Ben or John, contacted the children sporadically, and failed to contact the assisting agencies.

¶ 4 On 31 August 2017, respondent-mother admitted that she operated an automobile immediately after using methamphetamine and while Ben was in the vehicle, prompting YCHSA to file a juvenile petition on 1 September 2017 alleging that both Ben and John were neglected juveniles. The trial court held a hearing on the petition on 14 September 2017 and entered an order adjudicating the children to be neglected juveniles on 11 October 2017. The trial court found that both respondents were unemployed and "ha[d] not adequately addressed the conditions that led to the YCHSA filing its juvenile petition." The children were placed in YCHSA custody by the trial court, and the maternal great-grandmother of the juveniles was identified as an appropriate relative placement. Respondents were awarded one hour of biweekly supervised visitation with the children "contingent upon clean drug/alcohol screens and the parents not being incarcerated."

¶ 5 At the time of the ninety-day review hearing, respondent-mother was homeless and unemployed, but had entered into an Out-of-Home Family Services Agreement (OHFSA) with YCHSA on 17 October 2017 aimed at addressing issues of mental health, substance abuse, and parenting skills. Respondent-father was also homeless and claimed to be employed but had not provided proof of his employment. Respondent-father refused to sign an OHFSA but orally agreed to submit to substance abuse and mental health assessments and to complete parenting classes. The trial court noted that both respondents were attending visitations with the children, and respondents behaved appropriately during these interactions. In its review order entered on 25 January 2018, the trial court identified the following barriers to reunification:

(1) [respondent-mother] is currently working through the requirements of her OHFSA; (2) [respondent-father] has not entered into an OHFSA with the YCHSA but needs to continue working through the items he orally agreed to complete; (3) the parents need to acquire suitable housing; and (4) one or both parents need to provide proof of an established means to support the minor children.

¶ 6 The trial court held an initial permanency planning hearing on 14 June 2018 and entered an order on 13 July 2018 in which it established a primary permanent plan of reunification for Ben and John with a secondary plan of guardianship with a relative or other approved caregiver. Reunification remained the children's primary permanent plan until a permanency planning order was entered on 7 March 2019, in which the trial court found that, despite YCHSA making reasonable efforts to support a primary plan of reunification, both respondents had failed to "mak[e] adequate progress within a reasonable period of time" on their respective plans which were designed to eliminate the barriers to reunification between the children and respondents. The trial court changed the primary permanent plan to guardianship with a secondary plan of adoption and relieved YCHSA "of any obligation to make further reasonable efforts to reunify the respondents with the minor children."

¶ 7 Following a permanency planning hearing on 30 May 2019, the trial court changed the primary permanent plan to adoption with a secondary plan of guardianship and ordered YCHSA to initiate termination of parental rights proceedings. On 13 June 2019, YCHSA moved the children into a potential adoptive placement with licensed foster parents. YCHSA filed a motion to terminate respondents’ parental rights to Ben and John on 8 August 2019, in which the agency asserted two statutory grounds for termination: (1) that respondents had neglected the children and that there was a substantial likelihood of future neglect if the children were returned to their custody pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7B-1111(a)(1) ; and (2) that respondents had willfully left the children in a placement outside the home for more than twelve months without making reasonable progress to correct the conditions leading to their removal pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7B-1111(a)(2).

¶ 8 Prior to the hearing on the motion to terminate parental rights, the trial court granted respondent-father's motion to bifurcate the adjudication and disposition phases of the proceedings. The adjudicatory hearing concluded on 7 February 2020, and the trial court announced that it found "by clear and convincing evidence that grounds exist for the termination of the parental rights" of both respondents for neglect and failure to make reasonable progress under N.C.G.S. § 7B-1111(a)(1) and (2). After rendering its adjudication, the trial court elected to "go forward with the disposition phase" and heard from YCHSA's witnesses as to disposition before adjourning for the day. The trial court reconvened the parties on the morning of 15 June 2020 to complete the dispositional hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court considered each of the statutory dispositional factors contained within N.C.G.S. § 7B-1110(a) before concluding that it was in the best interests of both children to terminate the parental rights of each respondent.

¶ 9 On 29 June 2020, the trial court entered its order terminating the parental rights of respondent-mother and respondent-father. Consistent with its adjudication rendered in open court on 7 February 2020, the trial court concluded that YCHSA had proven the existence of both of its alleged grounds for termination—neglect and failure to make reasonable progress—by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence. For its disposition under N.C.G.S. § 7B-1110(a), the trial court memorialized its conclusion that it was in the best interests of Ben and John that respondents’ parental rights be terminated. Both respondents filed timely notices of appeal from the termination of parental rights order.

II. Analysis

¶ 10 Although respondent-mother and respondent-father filed separate appellate briefs, each of them challenge only the trial court's adjudication of grounds for terminating their respective parental rights under N.C.G.S. § 7B-1111(a)(1)–(2). Neither respondent contests the trial court's dispositional assessment of the children's best interests under N.C.G.S. § 7B-1110(a).

¶ 11 We review the trial court's adjudication under N.C.G.S. § 7B-1111(a)

to determine whether the findings are supported by clear, cogent and convincing evidence and the findings support the

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