In re Luis N.

175 Conn.App. 271

165 A.3d 1270

IN RE LUIS N. et al.^*

AC 39953

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued May 31, 2017

Officially released July 27, 2017^**

David J. Reich, for the appellant (respondent mother).

Frank H. LaMonaca, assistant attorney general, with whom, on the brief, were George Jepsen, attorney general, and Benjamin Zivyon, assistant attorney general, for the appellee (petitioner).

Lavine, Prescott and Harper, Js.

LAVINE, J.

The respondent mother, B.F., appeals from the judgments of the trial court terminating her parental rights in her son, L.N., and daughter, M.N.¹ On appeal, the respondent claims that the court (1) violated her right to due process by meeting with the children ex parte, (2) failed timely to canvass her pursuant to In re Yasiel R.,² (3) erred by concluding that she had failed to rehabilitate to the degree that she could not be restored as a responsible parent within a reasonable time, and (4) erred by finding that it was in the best interests of the children to terminate her parental rights in them. We affirm the judgments of the trial court.

In a detailed, 120 page memorandum of decision, the trial court, Rubinow, J. , made the following findings of fact that are relevant to the issues in the present appeal. L.N., who was born in July, 2008, and M.N., who was born in June, 2009, came to the attention of the Department of Children and Families (department) in February, 2011. The children resided with the respondent, but not their father, S.N., who never married the respondent. The respondent was overwhelmed caring for the children, but they remained in her custody until October 11, 2011, when the department removed them pursuant to General Statutes § 17a–101g. On October 21, 2011, the court, Hon. William L. Wollenberg , judge trial referee, sustained the orders of temporary custody and ordered specific steps for the respondent to assist her reunification with the children.

On May 31, 2012, the court, Frazzini, J. , adjudicated the children neglected as to the respondent³ on the ground that they were exposed to conditions injurious to their well-being.⁴ The court ordered the children committed to the custody of the petitioner, the Commissioner of Children and Families, and ordered new specific steps for the respondent to facilitate reunification. See General Statutes § 46b–129. On December 12, 2012, the petitioner filed petitions to terminate the respondent's parental rights in the children and amended the petitions on September 6, 2013. The petitioner alleged that the department had made reasonable efforts to locate the respondent and reunify her with the children but that she was unable or unwilling to benefit from reasonable reunification efforts. The petitions also alleged that the respondent had failed to achieve such a degree of personal rehabilitation as would encourage the belief that within a reasonable time, considering the ages and needs of the children, she could assume a responsible position in their lives, and that termination of her parental rights was in the best interests of the children.

Trial on the termination petitions commenced on November 24, 2014, and continued on approximately sixteen days until August 3, 2016. The court heard from approximately nineteen witnesses. On January 15, 2016, the court appointed Sam Christodlous, an attorney, to serve as guardian ad litem for the children. On January 29, 2016, Judge Rubinow canvassed the respondent in accordance with In re Yasiel R. , 317 Conn. 773, 795, 120 A.3d 1188 (2015).

The court found the following facts with respect to the respondent. She was born in 1989 and was herself removed from her mother's care due to neglect. Her grandmother adopted her when the respondent was ten years old. Her family history is significant for mental health issues and alcohol and drug abuse. As a child, the respondent was beaten, raped, and subjected to domestic violence; as an adult, she is troubled by memories of those incidents. In her youth, the respondent suffered from seizures and received mental health counseling. The respondent left high school in the tenth grade and has held occasional and temporary employment at a video game store, an election center, and a barber shop. She found full-time employment at a laundry service in October, 2013.

After the department became involved with the family, it referred the respondent for in-home services to address L.N.'s delayed speech and M.N.'s unspecified developmental issues. The respondent also was referred to parenting classes with case management services. Over the next several months, the respondent's participation in those services was inconsistent. Moreover, her mental health deteriorated, she was isolated in her apartment, she and the children were unkempt, and she failed to respond to the children's cues for attention. The respondent had difficulty paying her rent, and a third party with a child was living in her home. The in-home service providers recommended that the respondent receive individual therapy and medication management services.

The respondent was referred to Valarie Williams, a licensed psychologist, for a clinical assessment. The respondent's mental health history included bipolar disorder, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. She had a history of insomnia, crying spells, poor concentration, mood swings, irritability, aggressive behavior, and poor impulse control. She was taking the medication Klonopin. The respondent had a limited circle of friends and was on probation for robbery in the second degree. Williams diagnosed the respondent with major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, and referred her to a psychiatrist.

The court found that the respondent had a history of illegal drug use that began when she was thirteen years old. She had a pattern of using illegal drugs, participating in treatment, remaining drug free for a time, and relapsing, a pattern that persisted during the termination proceedings and when the respondent was caring for her youngest child, E.T. The department referred the respondent to Catholic Charities' Institute for the Hispanic Family for drug screening and evaluation. When the respondent was evicted from her home in the fall of 2011, the department removed the children from her care. Although the respondent was homeless for months, she continued to receive department sponsored services and had supervised visits with the children twice a week.

Throughout the first six months of 2012, the respondent tested positive for marijuana and cocaine. Williams discharged the respondent from individual counseling in June, 2012, because she failed to attend scheduled therapy sessions and to consult a psychiatrist, as recommended. In June, 2012, Bruce Freedman, a licensed psychologist, conducted a court-ordered psychological evaluation of the respondent, which included an assessment of her interaction with the children. Freedman determined that the respondent's intelligence is at the low end of the average range. In September, 2012, the respondent was referred to Community Renewal Team to address her mood instability, post-traumatic stress disorder, and marijuana use.

By December, 2012, the respondent was living with V.G., a man with a criminal history involving crimes of violence, including risk of injury to a child. V.G. physically abused the respondent. The department recommended that the respondent engage in domestic violence prevention services, but she refused. In January, 2013, the respondent was evicted from the apartment she shared with V.G. and continued to test positive for marijuana use. Community Renewal Team discharged her from its services and referred her to the Institute of Living. The court found no evidence that the respondent availed herself of the referral to the Institute of Living.

During the summer of 2013, the respondent was enrolled in anger management, domestic violence, and parent education programs at the Family Intervention Center. By September, 2013, she had attended a three day per week, three hour per day program where her substance abuse issues were to have been addressed. The respondent, however, did not complete the domestic violence and anger management programs, nor did she engage in the follow-up after substance-abuse relapse prevention program or individual counseling that were recommended to her.⁵

The respondent had been employed by a salon to cut hair, but in October, 2013, with help from her cousin, she obtained employment at a laundry service in another community, where a man, L.T., was employed. The respondent worked from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and therefore she claimed that she was unable to participate in services offered by the department. In late December, 2013, Freedman conducted a second court-ordered psychological evaluation of the respondent, which also included an assessment of her interaction with the children. As of January, 2014, the respondent was still using illegal drugs and admitted to smoking seven to eight blunts per day.

In March, 2014, the respondent moved to the community where the laundry service was located to live with L.T.⁶ in a two bedroom apartment she had obtained with the assistance of a cousin and her grandmother. Although she was no longer receiving counseling, the department provided her with supervised visits with the children.

In August, 2014, the respondent became pregnant with her third child. In response to advice she received from her prenatal care provider, the respondent went to Perspectives Counseling Center and stated that she needed counseling. She reported a history of sexual abuse, physical abuse, domestic violence, counseling, psychotropic medication, and criminal activity. She also reported that she was in a domestic relationship with L.T., whom she described as being good and supportive. Perspectives Counseling Center diagnosed her with a major depressive disorder and recommended that she engage in individual and...