State ex rel. A.S.G.-R. v. State

538 P.3d 1259

STATE of Utah, IN the INTEREST OF A.S.G.-R., a person under eighteen years of age.

G.R., Appellant,

v.State of Utah and E.G., Appellees.

No. 20220645-CA

Court of Appeals of Utah.

Filed October 19, 2023

Alexandra Mareschal and Julie J. Nelson, Salt Lake City, Attorneys for Appellant

Sean D. Reyes, Carol L.C. Verdoia, and John M. Peterson, Salt Lake City, Attorneys for Appellee State of Utah

Neil D. Skousen, Orem, Attorney for Appellee E.G.

Martha Pierce, Salt Lake City, Guardian ad Litem

Judge Ryan M. Harris authored this Opinion, in which Judges Michele M. Christiansen Forster and Ryan D. Tenney concurred.

Opinion

HARRIS, Judge:

¶1 G.R. (Mother) became convinced that E.G. (Father) was sexually abusing their daughter, A.S.G.-R. (Child). Over a nearly two-year period, Mother made or sparked some thirty reports of sexual abuse to Utah's Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS). After investigation, however, DCFS was unable to discover any credible evidence supporting Mother's allegations, and therefore did not substantiate any of them. And given the number and repeated nature of the reports, DCFS became concerned that Child was being harmed by the allegations and ensuing investigations, some of which had included invasive physical examinations of Child.

¶2 Eventually, the State filed a petition for protective supervision and obtained an order removing Child from Mother's custody and placing her with Father. After affording Mother fifteen months of reunification services, including a psychological evaluation and therapy, the juvenile court determined that the services had not resulted in sufficient change to the situation and that Child would be placed at substantial risk if she were returned to Mother, and therefore terminated reunification services. And after a four-day permanency hearing, the court entered a permanent custody and guardianship order in favor of Father.

¶3 Mother now appeals, arguing that the court erred in its decisions to not extend reunification services and to award permanent custody and guardianship to Father. We discern no reversible error in those decisions, and therefore affirm.

BACKGROUND¹

¶4 Child was born in January 2017. Mother and Father separated shortly before Child's birth, and about two years later they finalized their divorce. In the decree of divorce, Mother and Father were awarded joint legal custody of Child, but Mother was awarded primary physical custody with Father having statutory parent-time.

¶5 Child welfare officials first became involved with this family in November 2018, when DCFS made a supported finding of domestic violence with Father as the perpetrator and Child as the victim. At some point during this same time frame, Mother obtained a protective order against Father, based on allegations that he committed domestic violence against her also.

¶6 Beginning in May 2019, Mother began to make accusations that Father was sexually abusing Child. Over the course of the next two years, Mother made at least eight direct reports to DCFS of alleged sexual abuse. In addition, Mother reported her allegations to various medical and mental health professionals, some of whom also made reports to DCFS based on Mother's representations. In total, between May 2019 and February 2021, some thirty separate reports were made to DCFS that Father was sexually abusing Child. DCFS investigated these reports and could not substantiate any of them. In connection with some of these reports, Mother took Child to the hospital. During two of these visits, Child—approximately three years old at the time—was subjected to invasive physical examinations, including one "code-R" rape examination.² The examinations yielded no evidence of abuse, and in January 2020 DCFS representatives spoke with Mother about the potential harm that could result to Child from repeated unfounded allegations and needless forensic medical examinations. In addition, in April 2020 the "medical director of Utah's [Center for] Safe and Healthy Families" program advised Mother that subjecting Child to "any further sexual assault examinations could result in an allegation of abuse for [Mother] due to the harm that unnecessary examinations can cause a child."

¶7 During this time frame, and in an effort to expand Mother's understanding of the relevant issues, DCFS opened a "voluntary services case" to provide Mother the opportunity to take advantage of certain services, and Mother agreed to work with DCFS to try to improve the situation.

¶8 During the pendency of the voluntary services case, however, Mother hired a private investigator to investigate the possibility of sexual abuse by Father, and she did not tell DCFS that she had done so. This investigator interviewed Child, using techniques the juvenile court later found to "violate[ ] nearly every guideline for child forensic interviewing," including "ask[ing] leading questions, [making] promises to [Child] that could not be kept, and offer[ing Child] ice cream if she would tell the interviewer what ‘daddy's secret’ is."

¶9 Despite DCFS's efforts to assist Mother, the voluntary services case did not have its desired effect. Mother proved unable or unwilling to follow the plan DCFS outlined, and she stopped communicating with the DCFS caseworker.³ Eventually, DCFS closed the voluntary services case.

¶10 Sometime after that case was closed, Mother—in a continuing effort to present evidence that Father was sexually abusing Child—took a video recording of Child in an incident the juvenile court described as follows: Mother "videotaped [Child], naked on a bed, having her point to where [Father] touches her. On the video, [Mother] touches [Child's] genitals and has her spread her legs and moves the camera angle close-up to [Child's] genitals." Mother provided a copy of this recording to DCFS, but caseworkers declined to view it "based on concerns that it may potentially contain child pornography." Mother then provided the video recording to law enforcement.

¶11 In January 2021, Mother again brought Child to a hospital, alleging that Child "disclosed that [Father] had put his mouth on [Child's] vagina just hours prior." Another invasive physical examination was performed on Child, yet "no male DNA was found on [Child's] genitals." DCFS was informed about this incident, presumably from hospital personnel, and investigated it; the investigation included interviewing Child at the Children's Justice Center. After completing its investigation, DCFS found "no corroborating evidence" and concluded that Child's "disclosure was coached" and "not credible."

¶12 The present case was initiated in March 2021 when Mother sought a protective order barring Father from having contact with Child, and the State responded by not only intervening in the protective order case but also by filing this action: a petition for protective supervision services in which the State asked the court to "discontinue" the protective order, conclude that Child was "abused, dependent, and/or neglected," award DCFS protective supervision of Child, and allow DCFS to place Child in Father's custody during the pendency of the case.

¶13 At a shelter hearing held about a week later, the juvenile court ordered Child removed from Mother's custody and placed in the temporary custody of DCFS, which then placed Child, on a preliminary basis, with Father. Child has remained in Father's care ever since.

¶14 Later, at a subsequent hearing, the court found, based on stipulation, that Child was dependent as to Father. With regard to Father, the court indicated that the primary permanency goal was "Reunification/REMAIN HOME," and that the concurrent goal was "Remain Home with non-custodial parent."

¶15 The court held an adjudication hearing as to Mother; at that hearing, Father and the guardian ad litem (the GAL) asserted that Mother's conduct—making repeated false claims of sexual abuse, thereby subjecting Child to interviews, investigations, and physical examinations—constituted abuse, but the State argued only for a finding of neglect. After the hearing, the court found "no specific evidence" of harm to Child that could support a finding of abuse, but instead determined that Child "is neglected" as to Mother because Child "lacks proper care by reason of the fault or habits of [Mother]." For Mother, the court set a primary permanency goal of "RETURN HOME" and a concurrent permanency goal of "Permanent Custody and Guardianship with a Relative." The court explained that it was setting "different permanency goals for each parent," and that for Father, "the primary goal will be" for Child to "remain[ ] home with him," with "the concurrent goal of reunification if she is removed from his care." For Mother, the primary goal was "reunification, with the concurrent goal of guardianship with [a] relative."

¶16 In connection with setting these permanency goals, the court adopted a Child and Family Plan (the Plan). Under the terms of the Plan, Mother was required to, among other things, "complete a psychological evaluation and follow through with all recommendations"; "participate in individual therapy"; participate in a "parenting class"; and "maintain stable and appropriate housing" for herself and Child. The Plan also required Mother to be "open and honest" in connection with the psychological evaluation, as well as with therapists and other mental health professionals. The Plan provided that its objectives would "be achieved when [Child] is living at [Mother's] home" and when Mother "is providing a healthy, stable, and age-appropriate environment ... that supports a strong co-parenting relationship with" Father. No party lodged any objection to the terms of the Plan or to the permanency goals the court set.⁴

¶17 Thereafter, Mother completed a parenting class as well as—after some delay that may or may not have been attributable to her—the required psychological evaluation. The psychologist who conducted the evaluation (Evaluator) diagnosed Moth...