Opinion ID: 837290
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Errors Affected Respondent's Substantial Rights

Text: Thus, the state's failures of notice directly affected respondent's substantial rights because his lack of participation in the earlier proceedings and service plans prevented the court from meaningfully considering whether respondent could become capable of caring for his child within a reasonable time. Although he was certainly neglectful, in light of his lack of notice, his failure to participate did not constitute a waiver of his constitutional parental rights, as the trial court essentially concluded. Full notice not only would have created the opportunity for respondent to meaningfully participate or decline participation in services, but would have allowed the DHS and the court to gather other facts necessary to the court's termination decision. For instance, with regard to support, not only was respondent never pursued for a monetary contribution, but Patterson admitted that, because she had no contact with him, she had no opportunity to learn or verify that he provided A. with items such as diapers. Perhaps most significantly, the court found termination appropriate under § 19b(3)(g) in part because it concluded that, in light of respondent's prior absence in A.'s life, A. would suffer emotionally if returned to the respondent's care. Yet respondent had not been entirely absent from A.'s life; in actuality, he lived with her after her birth and she had last seen him only three months before she was removed to foster care. Assessments of respondent and services aimed at reunifying him with his daughter would have provided direct information concerning their relationship and its potential emotional harm to A. But because respondent was not evaluated, the court was left to merely assume that a relationship with respondent would be emotionally harmful to A. [53] In doing so, the court effectively punished respondent for his past neglect by presuming, in the state's favor, that respondent would neglect or harm his child in the future. Thus, the court essentially relieved the state of its burden to prove the grounds for termination by clear and convincing evidence and deprived the second clause of MCL 712A.19b(3)(g)which requires the state to show that, despite past neglect, a parent could not appropriately care for his child in a reasonable amount of timeof any meaning. [54] Employing such a presumption in the state's favor is inappropriate when respondent was not notified of his opportunity to be evaluated for placement and, therefore, he may not be faulted for his failure to participate or the resulting factual gaps in the record. Indeed, in part because respondent claimed to care for another child of similar age, assessments and services had some potential to reveal that respondent could provide a safe home for A. in a reasonable amount of time. The court also found termination appropriate under both MCL 712A.19b(3)(g) and (j) (the latter subdivision requiring a finding of a reasonable likelihood, based on the conduct or capacity of the child's parent, that the child will be harmed if he or she is returned to the home of the parent) because respondent had been convicted of felonies, including domestic abuse against Kops. Significantly, the court opined that no one knows whether respondent no longer had a propensity... to be involved in criminal behavior. (Emphasis added.) Yet the only direct evidence presented on this point weighed in respondent's favor. It was undisputed that respondent had never been accused of harming a child. Further, respondent and Marshall testified that he was staying out of trouble and had never abused Marshall. He and Marshall also both testified that he successfully cared for a young child, M., on a daily basis. In light of this evidence, Patterson's failure to assess respondent's needs and strengths, including the appropriateness and safety of his household, as she did for Kops, deprived the court of objective information on a disputed issue crucial to the outcome. [55] No one knew whether respondent was likely to persist in criminal behavior because no one had evaluated him and his lifestyle. Moreover, it is significant that the statutory scheme does not relieve the state of its responsibility to make reasonable efforts toward reunification with a parent merely because, as here, that parent has a history of criminal activity or violence toward adults. Reasonable efforts are unnecessary as a result of the parent's past violence or criminal behavior only if the parent caused or created an unreasonable risk of serious physical abuse, sexual abuse, or death of a child, if the parent was convicted of felony assault resulting in the injury of one of his own children, or if the parent committed murder, attempted murder, or voluntary manslaughter of one of his own children. MCL 712A.19a(2); MCL 722.638(1) and (2). Thus, the trial court again thwarted the statutory scheme by presuming that respondent was a danger to A. on the basis of his criminal history when that history did not include any of the enumerated offenses.