Opinion ID: 2517116
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: OCS's reunification efforts

Text: OCS filed its Emergency Petition for Adjudication of Children in Need of Aid and for Temporary Custody on October 31, 2006. The superior court held a hearing on November 9 and granted OCS temporary custody of the children. The court ordered that Wilson and Sarah shall work with the department in the development of a case plan and shall participate in family support services as set forth in that case plan. Jones first approached the parents at the November 9 hearing, prior to even formulating a case plan. Wilson indicated that there was no way that he would be willing to go to family violence intervention. During that same interaction Jones attempted to have Sarah sign a release of information. Wilson refused to allow Jones to speak to Sarah and put himself as a physical barrier between his wife and the social worker. Jones described Wilson as very angry and recounted that Wilson yelled at her both inside and outside the courtroom. Sarah told Jones not to talk to Wilson. Jones testified that she was unable to talk with them without that level of escalation and that [i]t was not a working relationship. Jones developed the case plan for the parents. She found this difficult because she interpreted Wilson's prior interactions with her to mean that she was not allowed to contact Sarah or to contact him, except through his court-appointed attorney. Jones thus formulated the case plan without input from either Wilson or Sarah and did not attempt to contact them to try to negotiate any aspects of the case plan with them. Sarah's portion of the case plan required her to engage in: (1) a Family Violence Intervention Program, for which OCS referred her to Alaska Family Services; (2) a parenting class, for which OCS again referred her to Alaska Family Services; (3) a psychological evaluation and any treatment recommended from such evaluation, for which OCS referred her to clinical psychologist Dr. Melinda Glass; (4) any regular mental health treatment indicated by her psychological evaluation; and (5) a substance abuse assessment and participation in any recommended treatment. Wilson's portion of the case plan required him to engage in: (1) a substance abuse assessment; (2) a Family Violence Intervention Program, for which OCS referred Alaska Family Services; (3) a parenting class, for which OCS referred Alaska Family Services; (4) a psychological evaluation, for which OCS referred Dr. Glass; and (5) any mental health treatment prescribed following his psychological evaluation. All of these activities required Wilson and Sarah to sign releases of information. The programs and services identified in the case plan required Wilson and Sarah to travel a significant distance from their home in Trapper Creek and many required Wilson and Sarah to pay, as OCS will not pay for all these services. It does not appear that any of these services were available to Wilson or Sarah in Trapper Creek or nearby Talkeetna. [2] In addition to the formulation of the case plan, Jones arranged for supervised visitation for the parents to see their children. When Sarah told Jones that they could not afford the gasoline necessary to drive to the visitation, Jones arranged for a fifty dollar gas voucher. Soon after, Wilson cancelled the visitation and the gas card was never mailed. On December 5 the parents came to see Jones to bring her their case plan signature pages. Wilson and Sarah both signed their respective case plans, but both checked the box indicating that they disagreed with their respective plans. The case was then passed on to Mallett, who had earlier accompanied Jones to the initial removal, as the full-time social worker on the case. Mallett testified that despite the referrals she offered for the services prescribed in the case plan, both Wilson and Sarah refused to attend classes. In regard to the parenting classes, Sarah responded that she was unable to afford the gas to commute to class. Mallett offered Sarah the fifty dollar gas voucher previously authorized for Wilson and Sarah to be picked up at any time from OCS's office; Sarah never claimed the card. Wilson and Sarah indicated that they would engage in the substance abuse assessments only if they were ordered to do so by the court. Finally, Wilson and Sarah's respective attorneys requested that OCS wait to complete the psychological evaluations until Wilson and Sarah were ready. Mallett set up a weekly phone appointment with Wilson and Sarah to communicate with them about their case plan and answer all their questions. The first week scheduled for their conversation Mallett forgot about the appointment. Wilson left angry and threatening messages for Mallett. Wilson and Sarah began to have the weekly phone calls with Mallett, but those calls soon devolved into brief conversations where Sarah would plead with Wilson to let her speak to Mallett and Wilson would force Sarah off the phone. The parents were more willing to work with OCS to arrange visitation, but visitation coordination also became difficult and created many tense situations. Visitation was especially difficult to arrange because the agency with which OCS contracts to supervise visitation refused to supervise Wilson and Sarah with their children. The agency, Alaska Family Services, had learned of Wilson's prior violent threats. Although OCS typically does not supervise visits, Mallett arranged to have the guardian ad litem supervise a visit at her office on the condition that Sarah come without Wilson. The parents did not comply with this request and OCS employees spotted Wilson in the parking lot outside the office. Following that visit Wilson again began limiting Sarah's conversations with OCS and no further visitation was arranged. The case was then reassigned to OCS social worker Bonni Glenn Harter approximately three weeks before the adjudication hearing. Wilson conceded that after Harter was assigned to the case she made active efforts.