SUMMARY: Some evidence of a mother’s love and affection toward her children was not sufficient to overcome the substantial evidence of lack of cooperation, habitually poor parenting skills, and lack of improvement supporting a termination of parental rights.
On January 22, 2009, the State filed a 3a petition alleging Raelonda had left her three oldest children, Jaiden (DOB 8/28/03), Jai’Sharriea (DOB 10/5/05), and Tramel (DOB 12/7/07), unattended. The petition was amended on November 19, 2009 to add Tra Meliyoh (DOB 7/7/09), and again on January 3, 2011 to add Jai’Vion (DOB 12/31/10). The State filed a motion for termination of Raelonda’s parental rights on October 10, 2011; a hearing on this motion was held on December 19, 20 and 21 of 2011, and January 23 of 2012. At the hearing, evidence showed that Raelonda had left the three older children at home unattended, but denied that she had done so. Additionally, the State presented evidence that Raelonda did not comply with the case plan, would often reschedule visits, and had repeated instances of conflict with the case workers. Raelonda would also allow unapproved individuals to attend visits with the children and displayed negative behaviors, such as threatening the children with physical punishment, during visits. The juvenile court terminated Raelonda’s parental rights on January 26, 2012.
The Nebraska Court of Appeals affirmed the termination of parental rights. The court noted that, even if there was some improperly admitted hearsay evidence, it was harmless error because of the substantial evidence of a lack of cooperation and willingness to address personal shortcomings. Though there was some evidence of love and affection between Raelonda and her children, this did not overcome the evidence of a consistent failure to cooperate and constant conflict with various caseworkers.