People v. Amanda S. (In re Lena S.)

2020 IL App (1st) 191293

160 N.E.3d 494

442 Ill.Dec. 632

In the INTEREST OF LENA S., Minor-Respondent-Appellant and Appellee,

(The People of the State of Illinois, Petitioner-Appellee,

v.Amanda S., Mother-Respondent-Appellant and Appellee,andJoseph B., Father-Respondent-Appellee.)

Nos. 1-19-1293

1-19-1402 (Cons.)

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, First Division.

May 26, 2020

Charles P. Golbert, Public Guardian, of Chicago (Kass A. Plain and Jean M. Agathen, of counsel), guardian ad litem.

Kimberly M. Foxx, State's Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg and Gina DiVito, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

Elizabeth Butler of Northbrook, for other appellee.

JUSTICE WALKER delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 The trial court entered a dispositional order finding Amanda S. and Joseph B. unfit to parent their daughter, Lena S. Lena and Amanda, with the support of the State of Illinois, argue on appeal that the finding of unfitness for Amanda is contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence. We find that the trial court had no sufficient grounds for rejecting the opinions of all the experts, as well as the witnesses who knew the family best. We reverse the trial court's dispositional order and remand for entry of an order finding Amanda fit to parent Lena and returning Lena to Amanda's custody.

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 Amanda S. had a daughter, Brittany S., before she met Joseph B. in 2001. Amanda married Joseph in 2003 but left Joseph two weeks after the wedding due to Joseph's domestic violence. A court entered a restraining order directing Joseph to stay away from Amanda in 2003. Amanda gave birth to their daughter, Lena, on February 6, 2003. A North Carolina district court in 2004 awarded primary custody of Lena to Amanda and secondary custody to Joseph.

¶ 4 Amanda involved herself in a new relationship in 2003, and in the course of that five-year relationship she gave birth to a son, Dalton S., in 2005. Amanda began a relationship with Justin W. in 2008. When Justin came to her home under the influence of drugs, she told him to leave, and he assaulted her. She obtained a court order to protect her and her children from Justin.

¶ 5 In March 2010, Joseph filed a motion asking the North Carolina court to find Amanda in contempt for preventing him from visiting Lena. At the hearing on Joseph's motion, Justin testified that, after Amanda obtained the order of protection against him, he continued to live with Amanda. The North Carolina district court summarized the consequences of Justin's return to Amanda's home:

"[O]n October 6, 2009, arrest warrants were again issued against Justin * * * for one count of Assault on a Female against [Amanda,] the Defendant[,] and one count of Assault on a Child Under 12 [, Lena] * * *.

* * * [T]he warrants allege that Justin * * * grabbed the mother by the neck, punched her in the face, and that he assaulted the minor child by grabbing her arm and shoving her out of the way so he could continue to assault her mother."

¶ 6 Justin pled guilty to the charge of assaulting Amanda, and the State dismissed the charge of assaulting Lena. The North Carolina district court heard evidence that Justin returned to Amanda's home once in 2011 and that on that occasion a neighbor shot Justin. Justin's probation officer could not find him after his release from jail in December 2012, until a call told her to look to Amanda's home for Justin. The call led to Justin's apprehension.

¶ 7 The North Carolina district court found:

"[T]he father spoke to Ms. Moore directly and indicates that he need[s] to work with a counselor on being patient due to his explosive anger problem, and admitted to using inappropriate references to the minor child about her weight.

* * *

* * * [T]he father maintains* * *that he has only put his hands on his daughter as a disciplinarian twice [in her] life.

* * * Defendant never informed the minor child's therapist, Ms. Moore, that [Justin], the man the children call ‘dad,’ was shot in their apartment complex.

* * * [D]uring this hearing, the Defendant was less than forthcoming with the Court when she testified that she moved out of that apartment complex the month after there had been a shooting in the area, but failed to disclose that it was her former boyfriend and the man the children called ‘dad.’

* * * [T]he Court is also concerned that over the past five years, the mother reported seven separate places she has lived with her minor children, and five separate schools the minor child has attended; and that of a related concern there are periods of time up to six months that are not accounted for in the Defendant's testimony as to where she was living.

* * *

* * * Defendant has been dishonest and inconsistent in her reports to [the North Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS) ], the Jacksonville Police Department, Ms. Moore, and/or this Court.

* * * [O]f perhaps the greatest concern to the Court, is that the Defendant failed to disclose to Ms. Moore that the minor child had not only been a witness to domestic violence against the Defendant and the minor child's siblings, but that the minor child had herself been [a] victim of domestic violence at the hands of Justin

* * *, the man she calls ‘dad’ * * *.

* * *

* * * [D]efendant has alienated the minor child from the father by manipulating facts, and her failure to take action to reassure the minor child that her anxiety about her father is unwarranted.

* * *

* * * Ms. Moore reported that the minor child disclosed to her that ‘Dad gets angry and beats her’ however there are no criminal charges or evidence as to any specific events wherein the minor child has suffered any abuse at the hands of her father."

¶ 8 The North Carolina district court entered an order in 2014 transferring primary custody of Lena from Amanda to Joseph, with supervised visitation for Amanda. In 2014, Joseph brought Lena to live with him in Illinois. In 2015 Joseph filed a motion in North Carolina asking the court to hold Amanda in contempt for "bad faith conduct and manipulation of the minor child."

¶ 9 Joseph's contempt motion remained unresolved in June 2017. On June 26, 2017, Lena and Joseph spoke with Joseph's mother, Lori G. During that conversation, Joseph admitted that he struck Lena. After a discussion with Lori, Joseph signed a document stating that, if Joseph hit Lena again, Lena would leave the home and contact Lori, who would help Lena get to Lori's home in Utah.

¶ 10 Lena sought Lori's help less than three months later. On September 22, 2017, Lena called Lori from school and told Lori that Joseph hit her that morning. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) took Lena into protective custody that day. The Illinois circuit court awarded DCFS temporary custody on September 26, 2017. DCFS placed Lena inthe home of Joseph's sister, Christina B.

¶ 11 On September 27, 2017, Christina filed a petition for an order of protection and no contact, on behalf of herself and Lena. The circuit court had not heard Christina's petition by October 31, 2017, when the State of Illinois filed a complaint charging Joseph with battery of K.M., the 14-year-old sister of Joseph's paramour.

¶ 12 Christina and Lena testified in the circuit court on November 7, 2017, in support of Christina's motion for an order of protection. After the hearing, the circuit court awarded a two-year plenary order of protection severely restricting Joseph's contact with Christina and Lena.

¶ 13 In November 2017, the North Carolina district court entered an order resolving Joseph's petition for a finding of contempt against Amanda. The North Carolina district court ruled:

"Defendant's conduct has aggravated the situation. Her daughter did threaten to harm herself immediately upon the return to Chicago from Christmas 2014 visitation. Defendant violated court ordered supervision of her contact with the daughter by encouraging and enabling secret communication with the child. Defendant encouraged the child to use one of the Plaintiff's Chicago neighbors to facilitate unauthorized contact with the Defendant * * *.

* * *

* * * Defendant has acted in violation of the prior order and contrary to the best interests of the minor child by participating in secret communications with the child not permitted by the child's therapist and by * * * undermining Plaintiff's effectiveness as the parent with primary custody of the child.

* * *

* * * [T]he minor child's best interests would be served by remaining in the primary custody of Plaintiff but with contact with Defendant being less restrictive and returning to a more normal or typical visitation schedule."

¶ 14 Although the court found Amanda in contempt and imposed a fine of $1000, the court increased Amanda's visitations with Lena and contained fewer restrictions than those imposed by the court's prior order.

¶ 15 In the battery case, the Illinois circuit court sentenced Joseph to 24 months' supervision starting in January 2018 and ordered him to avoid K.M.

¶ 16 The Illinois circuit court heard testimony in support of the State's petition for adjudication of wardship. The court accepted into evidence a transcript of Lena's testimony on Christina's petition for the order of protection. Lena testified about the events of September 22, 2017, that started at 5 a.m.:

"[Joseph] woke me up, started talking to me and slapped me in my face.

* * *

He made me lift weights above my head. I dropped the weights on my knee, my fingers, and then I hurt my shoulder. And he told me to deal with it. And then I kept telling him I couldn't do it. So then he grabbed—we had cabinets in the garage. So he pushed me up against it, grabbed my face and started shaking my face and yelling at me and telling me I have to do what I got to do or he's just going to make it worse and my life is going to be worse. And then he stopped and told me to go run in the front yard, in the front on our sidewalk. I did that, and he said I wasn't doing it

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