Opinion ID: 2045627
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Compliance With Rehabilitation Plan

Text: Lona argues that the juvenile court erred by terminating her parental rights to Gloria and Tabitha pursuant to § 43-292(6), because the county attorney failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence that Lona's failure to comply with the court-ordered rehabilitation plan was willful. Lona insists that Thomas coerced her into not complying with the rehabilitation plan. Section 43-292 gives the juvenile court power to terminate parental rights under the following conditions: The court may terminate all parental rights between the parents or the mother of a juvenile born out of wedlock and such juvenile when the court finds such action to be in the best interests of the juvenile and it appears by the evidence that one or more of the following conditions exist: .... (6) Following a determination that the juvenile is one as described in subdivision (3)(a) of section 43-247, reasonable efforts, under the direction of the court, have failed to correct the conditions leading to the determination.... Lona points out that in In re Interest of J.S., A.C., and C.S., 227 Neb. at 267, 417 N.W.2d at 158, we held that under § 43-292(6), the State must prove by clear and convincing evidence that (1) the parent has willfully failed to comply, in whole or in part, with a reasonable provision material to the rehabilitative objective of the plan and (2) in addition to the parent's noncompliance with the rehabilitative plan, termination of parental rights is in the best interests of the child. However, our case law is unclear as to whether noncompliance with a rehabilitation plan must be willful. We have at times repeated the formula from In re Interest of J.S., A.C., and C.S. stated above, including the willfulness element. See In re Interest of L.H. et al., 241 Neb. 232, 487 N.W.2d 279 (1992). At other times, however, we have stated that in order to terminate a person's parental rights, [t]here is no requirement that the parent's failure to comply with the plan for rehabilitation be willful. In re Interest of A.B. et al., 236 Neb. 220, 223, 460 N.W.2d 114, 116 (1990). As we reasoned in In re Interest of V.M., 235 Neb. 724, 727, 457 N.W.2d 288, 291 (1990), when a parent is unable or unwilling to rehabilitate herself within a reasonable period of time, the best interests of the child require termination of parental rights. Thus, it is necessary that we clarify the law as to whether the State must prove that a parent's failure to comply with a courtordered rehabilitation plan is willful in an action to terminate parental rights under § 43-292(6). Again, § 43-292 states: The court may terminate all parental rights between the parents or the mother of a juvenile born out of wedlock and such juvenile when the court finds such action to be in the best interests of the juvenile and it appears by the evidence that one or more of the following conditions exist: .... (6) Following a determination that the juvenile is one as described in subdivision (3)(a) of section 43-247, reasonable efforts, under the direction of the court, have failed to correct the conditions leading to the determination.... In construing a statute, a court must look to the statute's purpose and give to the statute a reasonable construction which best achieves that purpose, rather than a construction which would defeat it. In re Interest of Jaycox, 250 Neb. 697, 551 N.W.2d 9 (1996); Goolsby v. Anderson, 250 Neb. 306, 549 N.W.2d 153 (1996). By its own terms, the purpose of § 43-292(6) is to advance the best interests of the child by giving the juvenile court power to terminate parental rights where the grounds for adjudicating the child within § 43-247(3)(a) have not been corrected. Whether a parent is willful or not in his or her noncompliance with a rehabilitation plan is not directly relevant to this purpose. In some situations, the conditions that led to the § 43-247(3)(a) adjudication may not be corrected in spite of the intentions of the parent whose child has been adjudicated under this section. Indeed, § 43-247(3)(a) gives juvenile courts jurisdiction over a child who is without proper support through no fault of his or her parent, guardian, or custodian. (Emphasis supplied.) The purpose of § 43-292(6) is to protect the child from such conditions, whether they are caused willfully or not. Requiring the State to show that the failure to correct the conditions leading to the adjudication under § 43-247(3)(a) was willful would clearly defeat this purpose in those situations where the conditions persist in spite of the desire or the will of the parent to correct them. Thus, we hold that the State is not required to show that noncompliance with a court-ordered rehabilitation plan is willful in order to prove that termination of parental rights should be ordered under § 43-292(6). Lona also argues that even if the State was not required to prove that she willfully failed to comply with the rehabilitation plan, the provisions of the plan which the State alleged that Lona violated were not material to the rehabilitation objectives of the plan. Lona points out that in In re Interest of J.S., A.C., and C.S., 227 Neb. 251, 267, 417 N.W.2d 147, 158 (1987), we held that under § 43-292(6), the State must prove by clear and convincing evidence that (1) the parent has willfully failed to comply, in whole or in part, with a reasonable provision material to the rehabilitative objective of the plan.... (Emphasis supplied.) Lona insists that she has not violated a material provision of the plan and cannot have her parental rights terminated under § 43-292(6). Lona draws our attention to the definition of materiality in In re Interest of L.H. et al., 241 Neb. 232, 245, 487 N.W.2d 279, 289 (1992): Materiality of a provision in a courtordered rehabilitative plan is determined by a cause-and-effect relationship: Does a provision in the plan tend to correct, eliminate, or ameliorate the situation or condition on which the adjudication has been obtained under the Nebraska Juvenile Code? [Citation omitted.] Materiality regarding a rehabilitative plan exists when a parent's noncompliance results in a continued condition which was the basis for the adjudication and which is deleterious to a child expected to benefit from parental compliance with the rehabilitative plan. Lona emphasizes that at the time the county attorney originally filed the petition for adjudication under § 43-247(3)(a), the portions regarding her failure to protect the children from Thomas were struck from the petition. After this deletion, she insists, the only remaining basis for the § 43-247(3)(a) adjudication with respect to her was the fact that she had failed to maintain a healthy home environment for the children. Lona argues that, therefore, the restrictions on her contact with Thomas were not material provisions of the rehabilitation plan, because they did not tend to correct or ameliorate conditions which were the basis for the original § 43-247(3)(a) adjudication. However, Lona misunderstands the scope and purpose of a rehabilitation plan which is adopted by a juvenile court following an adjudication that a child is within § 43-247(3)(a). While it is true that one purpose of a rehabilitation plan is to ameliorate the particular conditions that serve as the basis for an allegation supporting the adjudication that a child is within the meaning of § 43-247(3)(a), a rehabilitation plan also has the larger goal of reuniting the child with the parent. Thus, we have explained that [w]hile there is no requirement that the juvenile court must institute a plan for rehabilitation of a parent, where the failure of a parent to comply with a rehabilitation plan is an independent ground for termination of parental rights, the rehabilitation plan must be conducted under the direction of the juvenile court and must be reasonably related to the plan's objective of reuniting parent with child. (Emphasis supplied.) In re Interest of C.D.C., 235 Neb. 496, 500, 455 N.W.2d 801, 805 (1990). To advance this goal, the juvenile court has broad discretion to prescribe a reasonable plan to rehabilitate a parent whose child has been adjudicated to be within the meaning of § 43-247(3)(a). It is clear from the petition and the adjudication order that Gloria and Tabitha were adjudicated to be within the meaning of § 43-247(3)(a) on the basis of a wide variety of threats to their well-being, not limited to the allegations specifically directed toward Lona. A major emphasis of the allegations in the petition supporting the finding that Gloria and Tabitha were within the meaning of § 43-247(3)(a) was the fact that Gloria had accused Thomas of sexually assaulting her and had stated that Thomas sexually assaulted her sisters. It was certainly not an abuse of discretion for the juvenile court in constructing a rehabilitation plan which has the goal of reuniting Gloria and Tabitha with Lona to forbid her from maintaining an association with a person convicted of sexually assaulting one of her children.