Opinion ID: 1313281
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: interpretation of nebraska juvenile code provisions regarding termination of parental rights

Text: Guided by the foregoing principles of statutory interpretation, we review the Nebraska Juvenile Code provisions regarding termination of parental rights applicable to these cases. Regarding the filing of termination proceedings, § 43-291 provides in relevant part: Facts may also be set forth in the original petition, a supplemental petition, or motion filed with the court alleging that grounds exist for the termination of parental rights. After a petition, a supplemental petition, or motion has been filed, the court shall cause to be endorsed on the summons and notice that the proceeding is one to terminate parental rights, shall set the time and place for the hearing, and shall cause summons and notice, with a copy of the petition, supplemental petition, or motion attached, to be given in the same manner as required in other cases before the juvenile court. (Emphasis supplied.) Section 43-292 sets forth the statutory grounds for termination. The version of § 43-292 which was in effect at the time of these proceedings listed seven separate conditions, the existence of any one of which when combined with the best interests of the juvenile supports a decision to terminate parental rights. Section 43-292 states in part that the juvenile court may terminate parental rights between the parents and the child when one of the following conditions exists: (1) The parents have abandoned the juvenile for six months or more immediately prior to the filing of the petition; (2) The parents have substantially and continuously or repeatedly neglected the juvenile and refused to give the juvenile necessary parental care and protection; (3) The parents, being financially able, have willfully neglected to provide the juvenile with the necessary subsistence, education, or other care necessary for his or her health, morals, or welfare or have neglected to pay for such subsistence, education, or other care when legal custody of the juvenile is lodged with others and such payment ordered by the court; (4) The parents are unfit by reason of debauchery, habitual use of intoxicating liquor or narcotic drugs, or repeated lewd and lascivious behavior, which conduct is found by the court to be seriously detrimental to the health, morals, or well-being of the juvenile; (5) The parents are unable to discharge parental responsibilities because of mental illness or mental deficiency and there are reasonable grounds to believe that such condition will continue for a prolonged indeterminate period; (6) Following a determination that the juvenile is one as described in subdivision (3)(a) of section 43-247, reasonable efforts, under the direction of the court, have failed to correct the conditions leading to the determination; or (7) The juvenile has been in an out-of-home placement for eighteen or more consecutive months and the parents have failed to correct the conditions leading to the juvenile's out-of-home placement in spite of reasonable efforts and services to the parents ordered by the court or offered by the Department of Health and Human Services or other designated agency. We are aware that § 43-292 has been amended, providing additional grounds for termination of parental rights and amending certain of the foregoing provisions. The proceedings in the instant case, however, occurred prior to the operative date of the amendments. Section 43-247 sets forth the juvenile court's jurisdiction. Section 43-247 (Cum. Supp.1996) provides in pertinent part: The juvenile court in each county as herein provided shall have jurisdiction of: (1) Any juvenile who has committed an act other than a traffic offense which would constitute a misdemeanor or an infraction under the laws of this state, or violation of a city or village ordinance; (2) Any juvenile who has committed an act which would constitute a felony under the laws of this state; (3) Any juvenile (a) who is homeless or destitute, or without proper support through no fault of his or her parent, guardian, or custodian; who is abandoned by his or her parent, guardian, or custodian; who lacks proper parental care by reason of the fault or habits of his or her parent, guardian, or custodian; whose parent, guardian, or custodian neglects or refuses to provide proper or necessary subsistence, education, or other care necessary for the health, morals, or well-being of such juvenile; whose parent, guardian, or custodian neglects or refuses to provide special care made necessary by the mental condition of the juvenile; or who is in a situation or engages in an occupation dangerous to life or limb or injurious to the health or morals of such juvenile or (b) who, by reason of being wayward or habitually disobedient, is uncontrolled by his or her parent, guardian, or custodian; who deports himself or herself so as to injure or endanger seriously the morals or health of himself, herself, or others; or who is habitually truant from home or school; (4) Any juvenile who has committed an act which would constitute a traffic offense as defined in section 43-245; (5) The parent, guardian, or custodian who has custody of any juvenile described in this section; (6) The proceedings for termination of parental rights as provided in the Nebraska Juvenile Code; (7) The proceedings for termination of parental rights as provided in section 42-364; and (8) Any juvenile who has been voluntarily relinquished, pursuant to section 43-106.01, to the Department of Health and Human Services.... We note that this section was amended pursuant to 1997 Neb. Laws, L.B. 307 and L.B. 622. The additional amendments provided by L.B. 622 became operative on September 13, 1997, after the date of the termination hearing, and are not relevant to the analysis of this case. The amended sections were not relied upon by the juvenile court in reaching its decision to terminate Mitzi's parental rights to Jonathan, Jasmine, and Devon and are not relevant to our analysis. The plain language of § 43-247(6) states that the juvenile court shall have jurisdiction of [t]he proceedings for termination of parental rights as provided in the Nebraska Juvenile Code. The Nebraska Juvenile Code provides for the filing of the original petition seeking the termination of parental rights under § 43-291. Thus, the juvenile court acquires jurisdiction of a case for termination of parental rights brought on, inter alia, in an original petition filed under § 43-291 of the Nebraska Juvenile Code. By its terms, the original petition to terminate parental rights under § 43-291 is an initial filing and does not require prior action in or by the juvenile court. Taken together, §§ 43-247(6) and 43-291 indicate that the juvenile court properly acquires jurisdiction over an original action to terminate parental rights as provided in the Nebraska Juvenile Code without prior juvenile court action, including adjudication. In meeting our obligation to read the collection of statutes contained in the Nebraska Juvenile Code in pari materia and giving meaning to all the sections, we examine the remaining relevant Nebraska Juvenile Code sections regarding termination of parental rights to determine whether juvenile court involvement is required prior to the juvenile court's acquisition of jurisdiction of the proceedings for termination of parental rights. We, therefore, examine § 43-292. Section § 43-292 provided seven bases for termination of parental rights when these cases were pending. Only two of the seven provisions of § 43-292 explicitly or implicitly require juvenile court action prior to the termination of parental rights and by inference require a prior adjudication. Subsection (6) of § 43-292 explicitly requires a prior adjudication under § 43-247(3)(a), and subsection (7) implicitly seems to require a prior adjudication by virtue of its reference to prior court-ordered efforts and services. Subsection (6) provides that parental rights can be terminated where reasonable efforts under the direction of the court have failed to correct the conditions leading to the prior determination that the juvenile was one as described under § 43-247(3)(a). Subsection (7) of § 43-292 permits the termination of parental rights as to a juvenile who has been in out-of-home placement for 18 or more consecutive months and the parents have failed to correct the conditions leading to the placement in spite of reasonable efforts and services to the parents ordered by the court or offered by an appropriate agency. For the sake of completeness, we note that the last phrase of § 43-292(3) refers to court-ordered support, which we understand to encompass noncustodial support orders in nonjuvenile cases, such as dissolution. See, e.g., Neb.Rev.Stat. § 42-364(7) (Reissue 1998). Unlike § 43-292(6) and (7), § 43-292(1) through (5) do not require, imply, or contemplate juvenile court involvement, including adjudication, prior to the filing of the petition for termination of parental rights. Instead, subsections (1) through (5) each concern historical actions or conditions of the parents such as abandonment, neglect, unfitnesses, and mental deficiency. There is no requirement of longitudinal involvement of the juvenile court under § 43-292(1) through (5), much less a prior adjudication. Under § 43-291, an original petition may be filed seeking termination of parental rights and the juvenile court acquires jurisdiction of the termination proceeding brought on by an original action under § 43-247(6) without prior juvenile court involvement, except where required by the Nebraska Juvenile Code. Through the plain language of § 43-292, the Legislature has demonstrated its intention that under certain circumstances, prior court action or an adjudication is required before parental rights can be terminated. See § 43-292(6) and (7). Conversely, in this same statutory section, the Legislature has listed other conditions justifying parental termination, dependent not upon prior juvenile court action but upon the actions or conditions of the parents. The Legislature's obvious inclusion of prior court action under certain conditions demonstrates a clear intention that such action is necessary only under the enumerated circumstances. The plain and ordinary meaning of §§ 43-291 and 43-292, taken together, is that parental rights may be terminated in an original proceeding. To hold that an adjudication must occur prior to the termination of parental rights would render portions of the provisions of these sections meaningless. It is well established that in construing a statute, a court must attempt to give effect to all of its parts, and if it can be avoided, no word, clause, or sentence will be rejected as superfluous or meaningless; it is not within the province of the court to read anything plain, direct, and unambiguous out of a statute. SID No. 1 v. Nebraska Pub. Power Dist., 253 Neb. 917, 573 N.W.2d 460 (1998). In reading the provisions of the Nebraska Juvenile Code, we are mindful that the terms adjudicate and adjudication are liberally distributed throughout the code and have been the object of judicial comment. Nothing in the jurisprudence surrounding the interpretation of adjudication precludes our conclusion that an adjudication is not required prior to termination under § 43-292(1) through (5). With regard to the adjudication and dispositional phases of juvenile proceedings, this court has previously stated that the purpose of the adjudication phase of the proceeding is to protect the interests of the child; the purpose of the dispositional phase is to determine placement and the rights of the parties in the action. In re Interest of Amber G. et al., 250 Neb. 973, 980, 554 N.W.2d 142, 148 (1996). Adjudication means that a child is a juvenile within the meaning of the [Nebraska Juvenile Code] whereas a disposition addresses promotion and protection of a juvenile's best interests In re Interest of J.S., A.C., and C.S., 227 Neb. 251, 263, 417 N.W.2d 147, 156 (1987). This court has held that under the Nebraska Juvenile Code, the adjudication and dispositional phases may be combined into one hearing. In re Interest of K.M.S., 236 Neb. 665, 463 N.W.2d 586 (1990). This court recognized in a case arising before enactment of § 43-292(7), which subsection pertains to out-of-home placement and failure to correct conditions leading to out-of-home placement, that the juvenile court may terminate parental rights under the various grounds specified in [the] subsections ... of § 43-292 without providing the parent with a reasonable opportunity to rehabilitate himself or herself.... It is only to terminate parental rights pursuant to subsection (6) of § 43-292 [as it then existed] that the State is required to prove that the parents have been provided with a reasonable opportunity to rehabilitate themselves according to a court-ordered plan and have failed to do so. In re Interest of L.C., J.C., and E.C., 235 Neb. 703, 712, 457 N.W.2d 274, 280 (1990). In In re Interest of D.M.B., 240 Neb. 349, 481 N.W.2d 905 (1992), we held that the juvenile court failed to acquire jurisdiction over the child through an adjudication hearing and, therefore, was without jurisdiction to act with regard to a motion for termination of parental rights due to failure to follow a rehabilitation plan. See § 43-292(6). In that case, the basis for the termination of parental rights was the parent's failure under § 43-292(6) to comply with court-ordered plans aimed at correcting the circumstances that led to purported juvenile court jurisdiction. This holding in In re Interest of D.M.B., as well as the observation in In re Interest of L.C., J.C., E.C. quoted above, is consistent with our conclusion that § 43-292(6) anticipates a prior adjudication by the juvenile court; however, other provisions of the code, with the exception of § 43-292(7), do not. With respect to the adjudicative phase of juvenile proceedings, we are aware that the version of § 43-278 in effect at the time of the proceedings herein provided, All cases filed under subdivision (3) of section 43-247 shall have an adjudication hearing not more than ninety days after a petition is filed. We have held that the language of § 43-278 is directory, not mandatory. In re Interest of C.P., 235 Neb. 276, 455 N.W.2d 138 (1990). The petition filed under § 43-247(3)(a) on October 18, 1996, sought a determination that the three children in case No. S-97-1086 had been abandoned and lacked parental care by reason of their mother's drug addiction and frequent incarceration. The children were taken into detention on October 18, 1996, and remained detained on August 21, 1997, the date of the termination hearing. No action was taken to adjudicate Jonathan, Jasmine, and Devon. While we do not condone the failure to seasonably adjudicate the three children in case No. S-97-1086 pursuant to § 43-278, see In re Interest D.M.B., supra , nothing in § 43-278 required that the children be adjudicated as a prerequisite to parental termination under § 43-292(2) and (4), and the failure to conduct a detention hearing or to adjudicate them is not fatal to the termination proceedings brought on by the petition filed March 14, 1997, seeking termination under § 43-292(2) and (4). In the Nebraska Juvenile Code sections addressing the termination of parental rights, the statutory language explicitly permits the filing of an original petition to initiate a parental rights termination proceeding without regard to prior juvenile court action, see § 43-291, thus vesting jurisdiction of the case in the juvenile court under § 43-247(6) and, furthermore, five of the seven bases by which parental rights can be terminated under § 43-292 make no mention explicitly or implicitly of prior juvenile court involvement. We thus conclude that under the statutes in effect during these proceedings, an adjudication was not required prior to the termination of parental rights sought under § 43-292(1) through (5) and that the Court of Appeals' determination that an adjudication was required prior to termination under § 43-292(2) and (4) in case No. S-97-1086 was incorrect. We have long recognized that `[t]he integrity of the family unit, in this instance the continuing legal and social relationship of parent and minor child, is one of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States,' In re Interest of L.J., J.J., and J.N.J., 220 Neb. 102, 115, 368 N.W.2d 474, 483 (1985) (quoting State v. Metteer, 203 Neb. 515, 279 N.W.2d 374 (1979)), and that such rights should not lightly be alienated, id. at 115-16, 368 N.W.2d at 483. Additionally, in In re Interest of J.S., A.C., and C.S., 227 Neb. 251, 264, 417 N.W.2d 147, 156 (1987), we quoted Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 71 L.Ed.2d 599 (1982), where the U.S. Supreme Court stated: `The fundamental liberty interest of natural parents in the care, custody, and management of their child does not evaporate simply because they have not been model parents or have lost temporary custody of their child to the State.' Accordingly, in connection with our conclusion that the language of the Nebraska Juvenile Code permits a juvenile court to proceed with a hearing on the termination of parental rights without a prior adjudication hearing where parental termination is sought under § 43-292(1) through (5), we further require that such proceedings be accompanied by due process safeguards, as statutory provisions cannot abrogate constitutional rights. In re Interest of Constance G., 254 Neb. 96, 575 N.W.2d 133 (1998). See, also, § 43-279.01.