Opinion ID: 2637527
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Superior Court Correctly Applied AS 47.10.088.

Text: A court entering an order that terminates parental rights must find by clear and convincing evidence that the child was subjected to conduct or conditions placing the child in need of aid under AS 47.10.011 and that the parent has failed within a reasonable period of time to remedy the conditions that place the child at risk. [5] The court must further find, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the division made reasonable efforts under AS 47.10.086 to provide family services to enable the child to return home. [6] Finally, the court must find that termination is in the child's best interests. [7] Erica challenges the trial court's reasonable efforts and best interests findings.
The trial court found by more than a preponderance of the evidence that the division made reasonable efforts to prevent the breakup of Erica's family. But Erica, focusing on the narrow time frame between January 1999 and November 2000, contends that the division failed to make reasonable efforts. Specifically, Erica argues that during this period the state did not provide the particular services that would have addressed her problems, including assistance with thinking, organizing, and co-dependence, treatment for depression, and a bonding assessment of Amy. She also alleges that the division did not provide reasonable visitation after Kevin and Amy were removed from her home. The state responds that Erica did, in fact, receive services of the type she denies receiving. The state also argues that the reasonableness of its efforts during the disputed period must be evaluated in light of the extensive services it provided over the entire course of the division's involvement with Erica. The record establishes that the state provided a number of services in the disputed period. Between September 1998 and May 1999, while serving her sentence for misconduct involving a controlled substance, Erica participated in a halfway house program at Akeela House. Although the Department of Corrections placed her in the program, we have held that [i]t is of no particular consequence that the Department of Corrections... rather than DFYS provided a particular service. [8] In March 1999 the division referred Erica for one of several psychological evaluations that it provided over the years. Although the record does not indicate that Erica received any services between her release from Akeela House sometime after April 1999 and the removal of Kevin and Amy from her care in October 1999, after their removal in October the division consistently offered services to assist Kevin and Amy and facilitate their return home, including services to help address Kevin's special needs. It also offered Erica a urinalysis program, a substance abuse assessment, visitation with Kevin and Amy, [9] further residential treatment for substance abuse at Akeela House, and referrals for counseling to address the issues underlying Erica's substance abuse, such as depression and co-dependence. In any event, as the state correctly recognizes, the reasonableness of the division's efforts in 1999 and 2000 must be viewed in light of the entire history of services that the state had already provided. [10] As detailed above in the statement of facts, Erica's substance abuse and parenting problems arose well before Kevin and Amy were born, and the division had already made substantial efforts to assist Erica before it intervened on behalf of Kevin and Amy. Between Kevin's birth in September 1993 and the beginning of the disputed period here, January 1999, the division continued to make extensive efforts. In fact, Erica stipulated to the reasonableness of the state's efforts from July 1992 through August 1996 and does not challenge the court's finding of reasonable efforts for the period between September 1996 and January 1999. We have held that the state's efforts to prevent breakup of the entire family may be considered in assessing whether that effort was sufficient with respect to a particular child. [11] Thus, in determining what efforts would be reasonable for Erica from January 1999 onward, the court was entitled to consider the division's extensive history of efforts and Erica's consistent lack of success at addressing problems. When viewed in light of this history, the superior court's finding of reasonable efforts is not clearly erroneous.
Alaska Statute 47.10.088 requires the court to consider whether termination of parental rights is in the best interests of the child. [12] Erica challenges the superior court's best interests finding. She points to her care of Amy during the child's first six months and her family physician's assessment that Amy is developmentally age-appropriate. Erica also contends that she has support from family members, pointing to their care of Kevin while she was incarcerated in 1998. Erica further argues that the superior court should have adopted the recommendations of Dr. Bruce Smith rather than those of Dr. Richard Lazur. Both psychologists evaluated Erica's parenting capacity in 1999. Dr. Lazur believed that Erica was unlikely ever to be capable of parenting. In contrast, although Dr. Smith agreed that Erica should not have primary responsibility for parenting her children, he suggested a permanent plan that would allow her frequent contact with the children by placing them in the primary custody of Erica's parents, who could provide for their day-to-day parenting needs. Dr. Smith believed that this arrangement would appear to meet the best interest[s] of the children. Erica insists that Dr. Smith was more objective and credible than Dr. Lazur. But the trial court, not this court, decides issues of credibility. [13] Because of the unique ability of the trial court to assess credibility, this court consistently grants deference to trial courts where credibility is at issue. [14] Here, the superior court could reasonably find Dr. Lazur's testimony more persuasive than Dr. Smith's. Moreover, the record does not suggest that the superior court believed that either psychologist's testimony was crucial. The court's best interests findings appear to rely on evidence establishing that a permanent plan calling for Erica's parents to have primary custody was not a viable option. Undisputed evidence showed that neither parent was willing to care for Kevin. And although Erica's mother did say that she would be willing to assist Erica by taking primary custody of Amy, ample evidence supports the superior court's decision that Erica's mother would be unlikely to protect Amy from Erica: Erica's mother had repeatedly allowed Erica to have unsupervised visits with Amy, had a history of failing to follow the division's directions concerning her sister's children, and persistently refused to acknowledge that Erica had serious parenting and substance abuse problems. As is clear from the statement of facts, the state presented overwhelming evidence of Erica's repeated failure to care appropriately for her children and her longstanding lack of success in substance abuse treatment. Erica's background is checkered with periods of progress and backslide. Although at the end of the trial, in April 2001, Erica showed signs of improvement, her counselor estimated that it would take at least another year for her to be able to demonstrate her ability to care for her childrenassuming that she continued to progress. When viewed in light of the record as a whole, the superior court's best interests findings are supported by substantial evidence and are not clearly erroneous.