In re T.C.

IN THE INTEREST OF T.C., A CHILD

NO. 01-17-00497-CV

Court of Appeals For The First District of Texas

August 30, 2018

On Appeal from the 309th District Court Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Case No. 2014-71072

MEMORANDUM OPINION

In this accelerated appeal,¹ appellant, mother, challenges the trial court's order, entered after a bench trial, terminating her parental rights to her minor child,T.C.² In four issues, mother contends that the trial court erred in appointing the Department of Family and Protective Services ("DFPS") as T.C.'s permanent managing conservator³ and the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support the trial court's findings that that she knowingly placed, or knowingly allowed T.C. to remain, in conditions or surroundings which endangered her physical and emotional well-being;⁴ engaged, or knowingly placed T.C. with persons who engaged, in conduct that endangered her physical and emotional well-being;⁵ failed to comply with the provisions of a court order that specifically established the actions necessary for her to obtain the return of T.C.;⁶ and termination of her parental rights was in the best interest of T.C.⁷

We affirm.

Background

On September 10, 2015, DFPS filed its first amended petition, seeking termination of mother's parental rights to T.C. and managing conservatorship of the child. DFPS attached to its petition the affidavit of DFPS Investigator Sefra Perkins.

In the affidavit, of which the trial court took judicial notice at trial, Perkins testified that on March 9, 2014, DFPS received a report of neglectful supervision of T.C. and mother's other two children, S.C. and T.L.C. S.C., who was eleven years old at the time, had found mother "unresponsive on the floor next to her bed." Also, found next to the bathroom sink, was an aspirin bottle with forty-nine pills missing. S.C. called for emergency assistance, and mother was taken to a hospital.

During DFPS's investigation of the incident, mother stated that "she was not trying to commit suicide." However, mother conceded that she had taken "10-15 pills due to feeling really upset." She had been feeling upset "for some time," "got real depressed," and an argument with C.W., T.C.'s alleged father, "triggered her." Because mother was "unable to provide adequate care for" the children, T.C. and her sister, T.L.C., were placed with mother's sister to "ensure [their] safety." On November 11, 2014, mother removed T.C. and T.L.C. from their placement with her sister.⁸

On December 4, 2014, mother left T.C., who was eleven months old at the time, and T.L.C., who was four years old, home alone at night while she went to a store. When mother returned home, T.L.C. was "at the door." Mother stated that she had "left the children alone to get medication for [T.L.C.] because she had a really bad cough." The next day, however, the DFPS caseworker did not see T.L.C. coughing, and she noticed that the bottle of medicine purportedly bought by mother the night before was "less than half full." Law enforcement officers had to be called to mother's home that day because she would not release T.C. into the custody of DFPS.⁹

Perkins further testified that mother admitted "to leaving [her] 4 year old and 11 month old home alone to go to a . . . store late at night." Mother also instructed T.L.C. not to "tell anyone that she [had] left [the home]" and confided in C.W. that she "need[ed] to figure out how to tell [T.L.C.] how not to tell anyone about what [went] on in [her] home." Perkins opined that by leaving the children home alone, mother "creat[ed] an immediate danger to the[ir] safety and welfare," "demonstrate[d] [her] inability to be protective of [her] children," and "exhibit[ed] questionable judgment through her actions."

At trial, DFPS caseworker Tara Biggers testified that she had previously been a supervisor assigned to T.C.'s case. When the case was initiated, mother received a Family Service Plan ("FSP"), which the trial court admitted into evidence. Biggers was present at the time mother received her FSP, which stated that on March 9, 2014, DFPS had received a report of neglectful supervision of mother's children, including T.C. S.C. had found mother unresponsive next to her bed and called for emergency assistance. Also, found next to the bathroom sink, was an aspirin bottle with forty-nine pills missing. Mother was transported to a hospital. Further, on December 5, 2014, DFPS received a telephone call from a person stating that mother had left her children home alone on the previous night "while she went to the grocery store [for] over 20 minutes.

The FSP also stated that mother had continually left her two young children, T.C. and T.L.C., "who [were] both very vulnerable," unsupervised and alone in her home. While T.C. and T.L.C. were home alone, T.L.C. "left the home, and was seen wandering around the apartment complex looking for her mother." Further, mother "ha[d] failed to accept responsibility of being a parent to her children" and "lack[ed] the ability to apply how to be a better parent." She had limited familial support, "ha[d] not demonstrated an ability to use her support systems to help ensure that [her] children [were] safe at all times," and was diagnosed with "[m]ental health issues."

Under her FSP, mother was required to participate in counseling; maintain stable employment for six months and submit her paystubs to her caseworker each month; attend all court hearings, permanency conference meetings, and family visits; submit to random narcotics testing; maintain contact with her children; maintain stable housing and provide her caseworker with a copy of her lease; attend parenting classes, successfully complete those classes, and provide her caseworker with a certificate of completion; and participate in a psychological evaluation and follow all recommendations from that evaluation, including any recommendations for individual therapy and family therapy.¹⁰ Biggers noted that mother did not complete her FSP, including her individual therapy or family therapy requirements.¹¹

In regard to mother, Biggers testified that her children were "a big part of her life" and she appeared to love T.C. and her other two children. However, during the pendency of the case, mother was uncooperative, very argumentative, and"always arguing" with Biggers or with the DFPS caseworker. Further, during mother's visits with T.C. at the DFPS office, Biggers had heard her, in the presence of her children, yelling at the DFPS caseworker. And mother appeared anxious and very upset. Biggers also noted that because of safety concerns, security had to be called more than three times while mother was at the DFPS office.

In particular, during one visit, Biggers recalled that mother had T.C. "on her hip" and was "swinging the baby around," not "supporting her [neck] like she should have been," while arguing with a DFPS caseworker. Mother appeared upset and anxious, and security was called out of concern for the safety of mother's children and to protect them. Mother's visit with the children had to be stopped because of her behavior, and she was removed from the DFPS office by security. Biggers opined that it was not in the children's best interest to observe "their mother being removed by a security officer from their visit." And mother had put T.C., who was one year old at the time, in danger "because of the way her behavior was." Biggers also noted that during another visit with the children at the DFPS office, mother "called the police on [DFPS]," was "upset in front of the children," and unable to "redirect."

Biggers explained that when mother had engaged in her "erratic" behavior at the DFPS office, T.C. was present, saw her mother's behavior, became very upset,and cried.¹² Biggers personally observed mother's erratic behavior and T.C.'s negative reaction to it on approximately ten or fifteen occasions. And she noted that it was not in the children's best interest to observe mother acting erratically.

Biggers further testified that during the pendency of the instant case, DFPS requested that mother no longer have direct contact with it because she was very argumentative, harassed DFPS employees, made "obsessive [telephone] calls," did not comply with DFPS's directives, exhibited erratic behavior during her visits with her children at the DFPS office, and "called the police on [DFPS]." Mother also sent Biggers and a DFPS caseworker threatening emails. And Biggers expressed concerns about mother's mental health status.

In regard to T.C., Biggers noted that DFPS's goal for the child was an unrelated adoption and DFPS recommended termination of mother's parental rights. After being removed from mother's care, T.C., at one point, was placed with a relative. However, while T.C. was placed with the relative, mother was not cooperative, T.C. had to be removed from the placement, but not at DFPS's request, and mother had "called the police to [T.C.'s] foster . . . home." T.C.'s current foster placement, a non-relative placement, is not a long-term placement and DFPS had requested that she be moved to a more permanent placement during the pendency of the instant case. However, the trial court had denied that request because, at thetime, T.C.'s case had been set for trial. Biggers opined that the potential permanent placement for T.C., which was with her doctor, was still an available long-term placement for the child at the time of trial.

In regard to C.W., T.C.'s alleged father, Biggers testified that DFPS was aware that he was a registered sex offender¹³ and DFPS had discussed that fact with mother prior to September 2016. During the discussion, mother told DFPS that she did not have a relationship with C.W. Biggers expressed concern about C.W. being around mother's children because "he's a registered sex offender who's highly likely to offend again."

Cathy Jordan, a counselor at Clear Channel Counseling, testified that she began seeing mother for...