Opinion ID: 887296
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Whether K.G. failed to successfully comply with her treatment plans.

Text: ¶ 33 Jennifer Hoerauf (Hoerauf), a DPHHS social worker, testified that K.G. failed to successfully complete any of her treatment plans and that during the period of her last treatment plan, K.G.'s compliance with the plan declined rather than improved. Hoerauf testified that under her last treatment plan, K.G. only attended four of the nine Al-Anon meetings that were available to her and only five out of the ten women's support group meetings that were available. In addition, Hoerauf testified that K.G. was supposed to meet weekly with her, but K.G. missed 14 out of the last 18 meetings. ¶ 34 Jim Dupuis (Dupuis), the supervised visitation specialist, testified that K.G. was originally scheduled for four visits with her children each week, but that was changed because K.G. was not attending the visits on a regular basis. Dupuis also testified that K.G.'s visitation with her children dropped off beginning in April 2003, and that K.G. only attended 51 of the 93 visit opportunities even though she only lived four blocks from where the visits were conducted. Along those same lines, Hoerauf testified that because of K.G.'s numerous missed visits, DPHHS had to implement a plan where K.G. was required to call in before a visit if she planned to attend. According to Hoerauf, this plan was instituted because it upset the children to be taken to a visit only to have their mother not show up. ¶ 35 D.A. had been evaluated by several medical professionals since her initial injuries. These medical professionals reported that D.A. suffered from seizures as a result of shaken baby syndrome. K.G.'s last two treatment plans required that, after meeting with these medical professionals to identify D.A.'s needs, K.G. was to write a short essay on the course of action she would take if D.A. had a seizure. In the essay, K.G. was to identify how to recognize a seizure, the steps to take during the seizure and what to do once the seizure had stopped. Hoerauf testified that K.G. failed to comply with this requirement and that K.G. even stated that she did not believe that D.A. was having seizures. ¶ 36 One of the goals of K.G.'s treatment plans was to show that she could live independently and not fall back into an abusive relationship that would put her children at risk. In furtherance of that goal, the treatment plans required that K.G. work out a budget and provide the social worker with her receipts and other documentation. Hoerauf testified that K.G. did not comply with this requirement and that K.G. was falling behind in her rent because she was fined for failing to have insurance and registration on her vehicle. Hoerauf also testified that K.G. was jailed at one point for not having proper tags on her vehicle. ¶ 37 Also in furtherance of the treatment plans' goals that K.G. live independently, K.G. was not to have anyone reside in her home without prior approval of DPHHS. Hoerauf testified that K.G. had several people living with her at various times and at least one of these people had a long criminal history. ¶ 38 To address K.G.'s co-dependency issues and to help her recognize the risks to her children and herself from associating with persons under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the treatment plans required that K.G. was to maintain a home free of drug and alcohol use and not to associate with individuals who were under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Several law enforcement officers testified at the termination hearing of various incidences involving K.G. where either K.G. or those she was associating with were under the influence of alcohol. In one such instance, officers arrested a man who had stabbed another man as he was leaving K.G.'s apartment. The officers testified that the argument between the two men originated in K.G.'s apartment. ¶ 39 Based on the foregoing, we hold that K.G. failed to successfully comply with her treatment plans.