Opinion ID: 1437603
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Physical, Mental, and Emotional Health of All Involved as it Affects the Child's Welfare

Text: The trial court concluded that if the child's health is to be improved and maintained, she must have custodians with special training in the areas of speech, nutrition, feeding, and CPR as provided by the team at HSC. The court concluded that the mother's failure to complete the training and to arrange for a home study demonstrates the parents' lack of concern for the child's health and welfare. The court also stated that the parents' long history of illegal drug use does not establish evidence supportive of strong physical, mental, and emotional health. The evidence did show that neither parent had completed training with HSC. However, as the court found, the mother began the course the day before the hearing. There was evidence that the mother expressed her intention to complete the training and that there appeared to be no reason she could not complete it successfully. On the other hand, there was evidence that the parents were not able to afford to travel to the District for the training and that they received their drug treatment in New York City where they lived, facts not rejected by the court. The evidence showed that the parent's opportunity for visits and training were impeded by their financial circumstances and obligations to their other children. Yet, DHS appears to have taken no steps to assist the parents in securing any of the necessary training in New York City. There was evidence that an interstate compact was available to have the child transferred to New York where her parents resided and that social workers and the staff at Howard University Hospital had discussed that possibility. [9] There was also evidence that a home study of the parents' home in New York could have been undertaken pursuant to an interstate compact but was not. This court has held that the effort to reintegrate the family is a relevant factor in the decision-making process in a proceeding to terminate parental rights. A.C., supra, 597 A.2d at 925. Thus, the action or inaction of the agency having custody of the child is pertinent. Id. Evidence that the agency failed to make prior efforts ... may explain the parent's prior inability to meet the child's needs, and leave open the prospect that the child's integration into a permanent home might be better achieved by increased services, rather than by termination of parental rights. Id. (citations omitted). This is especially true, where, as here, there is little prospect that termination will be followed by the child's prompt adoption or integration into a secure and stable home. In its careful and detailed ruling, the trial court apparently did not consider the impact of the failure of DHS to explore reintegrating the family through the interstate compact, which seems particularly compelling in this case, given the special circumstances of the parents and the special needs of the child. Whether the parents are unable to care for their child should be considered in the context of whether effective services to the parents would enable them to provide for the child's physical, mental and emotional needs. In this case, [t]he child's chance for realizing a permanent home may be improved significantly, not by terminating parental rights in hopes of an adoptive placement, but by meaningful intervention of the social service agency in the lives of the existing family. Id. [10]