J.T. v. Chambers Cnty. Dep't of Human Res.

1

J.T. v. Chambers County Department of Human Resources

L.T. v. Chambers County Department of Human Resources

Nos. CL-2022-0687, CL-2022-0972

Alabama Court of Civil Appeals

April 14, 2023

Appeals from Chambers Juvenile Court (JU-19-53.03)

PER CURIAM

In appeal number CL-2022-0972, L.T. ("the mother") appeals from a judgment terminating her parental rights to I.M. ("the child"), one of her three children; the Chambers Juvenile Court ("the juvenile court") entered that judgment in an action docketed as JU-19-53.03 ("the .03 action"). In appeal number CL-2022-0687 J.T. ("the maternal grandmother"), the child's maternal grandmother, appeals from an order of the juvenile court denying her motion to intervene in the .03 action appeals from an interlocutory injunction that the juvenile court entered in the .03 action, and purports to appeal from the judgment terminating the mother's parental rights. We consolidated the appeals ex mero motu.

We dismiss the mother's appeal because the judgment from which she appeals is not a final one. We dismiss the maternal grandmother's appeal insofar as it challenges the denial of her motion to intervene because she did not timely file her notice of appeal with respect to that order, we dismiss her appeal insofar as she purports to appeal from the judgment terminating the mother's parental rights because the maternal grandmother does not have standing to appeal from that judgment, and we reverse the order granting an interlocutory injunction as to the maternal grandmother because the juvenile court entered it without affording her due process.

Background

The mother, who was thirty-seven years old when the juvenile court tried this case on May 19, 2022, moved with the child from Georgia to Chambers County in January 2019. The child's father was a resident of Georgia before he died in December 2020. The mother gave birth to the child in April 2014, and the child was eight years old when the juvenile court tried this case. The mother has two other children that remained in Georgia when she moved to Alabama in 2019. Those children, who were fourteen and twelve years old when the juvenile court tried this case, have a different father than the child. They were living with the maternal grandmother in Georgia when this case was tried, although a court has not transferred custody to her.

The mother testified that Georgia's Family and Children Services ("FCS") in Cobb County, Georgia, became involved with her family in 2016, apparently because the mother was using illegal drugs. FCS in Cobb County removed the child from the mother's custody and gave her a case plan requiring her to submit to random drug testing, submit to a drug-and-alcohol evaluation, comply with the recommendations made by the drug-and-alcohol evaluator, attend parenting classes, maintain stable housing, and maintain employment. FCS in Cobb County placed the child with the maternal grandmother from June 2016 until June 2017. However, the maternal grandmother did not want to be a long-term placement for the child, so FCS in Cobb County transferred the child to his maternal aunt's custody in June 2017. The mother testified that she had successfully completed the requirements of the case plan and that FCS in Cobb County had returned the child to her custody later in 2017.

The mother testified that, in January 2018, she relapsed into using illegal drugs, and FCS in Cherokee County, Georgia removed the child from her custody. Subsequently, after the mother moved to Troup County, Georgia, FCS in Cherokee County transferred the child's case to FCS in Troup County. After the mother completed the requirements of her case plan in August 2018, FCS in Troup County returned the child to her custody.

The mother moved to Alabama in January 2019. In February 2019, FCS in Troup County asked the Chambers County Department of Human Resources ("DHR") to locate the mother and the child to determine whether the mother needed further services because, FCS said, she had an ongoing child-protection case in Troup County.

DHR located the mother and the child in March 2019 and sent a caseworker to the mother's residence to check on the mother and the child. The caseworker asked to see the child, but the mother refused and started to close the door. The caseworker put her foot in the doorway to block the door. The mother threatened to punch the caseworker if she did not remove her foot from the doorway. The caseworker, who was pregnant, backed away and called law enforcement. Before a lawenforcement officer could arrive, however, the mother climbed out of a window with the child and fled.

In April 2019, DHR learned that the child had been in Georgia with his father for several weeks and that the child had returned to Chambers County. Caseworkers from DHR went to the mother's residence; however, she would not let them enter the residence. The caseworkers sought assistance from law-enforcement officers, who came to the mother's residence, arrested her, and charged her with resisting arrest and obstructing governmental operations. Law enforcement later dismissed those charges.

When the caseworkers entered the mother's residence following her arrest, they found that the mother did not have any food in the residence, that the residence did not have water service, and that the only source of electricity was the battery from the mother's automobile, from which someone had run a cable to the residence. Aside from the child, no one else was in the residence. DHR placed the child in foster care and, on April 16, 2019, commenced a dependency action ("the .01 action") regarding the child in the juvenile court. In August 2019, the maternal grandmother filed a motion to intervene in the .01 action, which the juvenile court granted on August 28, 2019.

DHR requested that FCS do a home study on the maternal grandmother pursuant to the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children ("ICPC"), § 44-2-20 et seq., Ala. Code 1975. FCS did the home study and recommended that DHR not place the child with the maternal grandmother because, according to the FCS caseworker, the maternal grandmother did not have the capacity to protect the child from the mother, had demonstrated a lack of commitment to the child when she had custody of him in 2016 and 2017, had expressed her belief that child-welfare authorities were corrupt, and may not cooperate with FCS in its efforts to ensure the child's safety and well-being.

The maternal grandmother subsequently asked FCS to reopen her home study. A representative of FCS contacted DHR, informed DHR that the maternal grandmother had requested that FCS reopen her home study, and informed DHR that FCS could not reopen the home study without a request from DHR. DHR did not request that FCS reopen the home study.

On April 8, 2020, after receiving FCS's home study regarding the maternal grandmother, DHR filed a motion asking the juvenile court to dismiss the maternal grandmother as a party to the .01 action. DHR sought to dismiss the maternal grandmother as a party because, DHR said, it could not place the child in the maternal grandmother's custody because, DHR said, FCS had recommended that DHR not place the child with the maternal grandmother and because, DHR said, the maternal grandmother had not visited the child or sought to visit the child since filing her motion to intervene in August 2019. On April 8, 2020, the juvenile court entered a judgment dismissing the maternal grandmother as a party to the .01 action. On April 15, 2020, the maternal grandmother filed a postjudgment motion challenging her dismissal from the .01 action. Her postjudgment motion was denied by operation of law on April 29, 2020. On June 29, 2020, more than fourteen days after the denial of her postjudgment motion, the maternal grandmother appealed to this court from the judgment dismissing her as a party to the .01 action.

This court docketed the maternal grandmother's appeal from the judgment dismissing her as a party to the .01 action as appeal number 2190723. After calling for letter briefs regarding the timeliness of the maternal grandmother's notice of appeal, this court, on November 9, 2020, dismissed that appeal because the maternal grandmother had not timely filed her notice of appeal from that judgment. This court issued its certificate of judgment in appeal number 2190723 on December 4, 2020.

In the meantime, the maternal grandmother had commenced a dependency action regarding the child ("the .02 action") in the juvenile court. The record does not indicate what occurred in the .02 action.

On April 16, 2020, DHR commenced the .03 action seeking the termination of the mother's and the father's parental rights to the child. On October 30, 2020, the maternal grandmother filed a combined motion and pleading titled "Motion to Intervene, Petition for Termination of Parental Rights and, in the alternative, Petition for Custody." The juvenile court treated the maternal grandmother's petition for termination of parental rights and petition for custody in that document as pleadings commencing a separate action, which the juvenile court docketed as the .04 action involving the child ("the .04 action"). On November 2, 2020, the juvenile court entered an order denying the maternal grandmother's motion to intervene in the .03 action on the ground that it was moot because, the juvenile court said, the maternal grandmother had commenced the .04 action seeking the termination of the mother's and the father's parental rights to the child and seeking custody of the child. The maternal grandmother did not file a notice of appeal from that November 2, 2020, order within fourteen days after the juvenile court entered it. As noted above, the...