Submitted On Briefs: May 30, 2019
Ezra
A.R. Willey, Esq., Willey Law Offices, Bangor, for appellant
mother
Aaron
M. Frey, Attorney General, and Hunter C. Umphrey, Asst. Atty.
Gen., Office of the Attorney General, Augusta, for appellee
Department of Health and Human Services
Panel:
SAUFLEY, C.J., and ALEXANDER, GORMAN, JABAR, HJELM, and
HUMPHREY, JJ.
PER
CURIAM
[¶1]
Lacy H. appeals from a judgment of the District Court
(Bangor, Jordan, J.) terminating her parental rights
to her child.[1] She argues that the intervention of the
Governor's office in the decision of the Department of
Health and Human Services to cancel or delay her trial
placement violated her due process and equal protection
rights, and that the court erred and abused its discretion in
determining that she was unfit and that the termination of
her parental rights was in the child's best interest. We
affirm the judgment.
I.
BACKGROUND
[¶2]
The Department filed a child protection petition and a
petition for an order of preliminary protection in February
2017, soon after the child was born. See 22 M.R.S.
§§ 4032, 4034 (2018). The petition alleged that the
child had been born prematurely and had been exposed to
marijuana during his mother's pregnancy, and that the
mother was resisting the directions of hospital staff and not
safely caring for the fragile newborn. The court
(Larson, /.) entered an order of preliminary
protection and placed the child in the custody of the
Department of Health and Human Services.
[¶3]
In May 2017, the court (Jordan, /.) held a jeopardy
hearing that the mother did not attend. See 22
M.R.S. § 4035(1) (2018). The court entered a jeopardy
order based on neglect or threat of neglect to the child due
to the mother's substance abuse, active criminal history,
untreated mental health issues, and lack of stable housing or
supports. See 22 M.R.S. §4035 (2018). The order
established a permanency plan of reunification with the
mother and called for the mother to participate in
counseling, drug screens, supervised visits, and other
services.
[¶4]
After an initial judicial review and permanency planning
hearing held in October 2017, the court ordered the mother to
participate in a diagnostic evaluation in November 2017. The
court held another judicial review and permanency planning
hearing the following month, ordering no change in custody.
[¶5] The Department petitioned for termination of the
mother's parental rights in January 2018. The Department
alleged that, after ten months, the mother had relapsed in
her substance abuse; she had failed to attend and participate
consistently in counseling, case management, anger
management, and drug screens; and she remained under threat
of extradition because of a lifetime warrant for her arrest
in Georgia.
[¶6]
In May 2018, while the petition was pending, the Department
was considering an additional effort toward rehabilitation
and reunification-a possible trial placement of the child
with the mother. When the mother arrived for the family team
meeting for the team to make final arrangements for a trial
placement, she learned that the Governor's office had
become involved in her case and that the trial placement
would not be happening at that time. This result was
consistent with the caseworker's position that the trial
placement should not happen for safety reasons, though it
conflicted with his supervisor's opinion that a trial
placement could be attempted. No trial placement was
attempted after that family team meeting.
[¶7]
The court held a trial on the termination petition over the
course of three days in November 2018. It then entered a
judgment granting the petition to terminate the mother's
parental rights after reaching findings of fact by clear and
convincing evidence. 22 M.R.S. § 4055(1)(A)(1)(a),
(B)(2)(a), (b)(i) (2018). The court reached the following
findings, which are supported by competent evidence in the
record. See In re AM., 2012 ME 118, ¶ 29, 55
A.3d 463.
The child was born premature. He was born drug affected due
to the mother's consistent use of marijuana throughout
her pregnancy. . . . The mother did very poorly as far as
engaging in services and addressing the jeopardy issues ...