SUMMARY: Termination of the mother’s parental rights was proper when there was sufficient evidence that the mother failed to address her mental health and substance abuse issues that put the child at risk of harm, even though the mother did achieve her family planning goals of obtaining a legal source of income and stable housing and had made progress in appropriately parenting her child.
In January of 2011, the state of Nebraska filed a petition alleging JahPray (DOB 9/2006) was at risk of harm due to the faults or habits of his mother, Whitney. Whitney had intentionally overdosed on a prescription drug previously that month; the paramedics also observed Whitney had disconnected the fire alarms and turned on several stove burners. Whitney tested positive for marijuana at the hospital. An amended petition was later filed, alleging Whitney placed JahPray at risk for harm due to her mental health issues, including bipolar disorder and depression, and substance abuse issues. Whitney admitted the allegations and JahPray was adjudicated on Mary 13, 2011. The State filed a motion to terminate Whitney’s parental rights in July 2012. At the termination hearing, several case workers testified as to their experiences working with Whitney. Testimony showed that, though Whitney had obtained stable housing, she was unable to pay for her utilities. Whitney was unable to work due to her mental health capacity, but eventually obtained a legal source of income through disability payments. In addition, Whitney continued to test positive for marijuana and admitted to drinking alcohol. Whitney also admitted she had difficulty taking her medications, had lost her bottle of bills on at least two occasions, and would sometimes let the prescription lapse. Testimony established that Whitney failed to consistently attend therapy or AA meetings. One case worker testified that there were no further services that could be offered to Whitney to reunify her with JahPray because Whitney had not made any changes to address the reasons which brought JahPray into care. In contrast, there was testimony that showed that Whitney consistently attended visitations with JahPray and appropriately parented him during these times, even though the visitations were never made more liberal than supervised due to Whitney’s substance abuse issues. The juvenile court terminated Whitney’s parental rights.
The Nebraska Court of Appeals affirmed the termination. First, the Court noted that JahPray had been out of the home for 18 months at the time the petition to terminate parental rights was filed. In addition, though Whitney had made progress throughout the pendency of the case by completing family service goals of obtaining a legal source of income, stable housing, and had made progress in appropriately parenting JahPray, Whitney had failed to address the core issues that had led to JahPray’s removal from the home. Therefore, because Whitney had not addressed her substance abuse and mental health issues despite continued services, termination of her parental rights was proper.