Opinion ID: 2371857
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Father's Substance Abuse and Criminal History

Text: The father, D.P., also appealed and testified at the show cause hearing that he and L.H. met in 1995 and have dated sporadically ever since. They had a volatile relationship, and D.P. was arrested for assaulting L.H. in 2003. As a result, D.P. was incarcerated until September 2004, and then resided as an inpatient at a drug treatment program as part of his sentence, until December 2004. At the time of the 2005 show cause hearing, D.P. was still on probation in connection with his offenses. D.P. also admitted to a long history of drug abuse. D.P. testified that he began using PCP and marijuana in the seventh or eight grade, and began using crack cocaine in the ninth grade. As a result, he was incarcerated for significant periods of his life since 1981, largely due to substance abuse. D.P. admitted that he has never lived on his own, and never held a paying job until 2005. At the show cause hearing, D.P. also testified that prior to 2004, he has had little contact with his children and that he had not been able to build relationships with them due to his incarceration and chaotic lifestyle. However, at the time of the hearing, D.P. had been free of drugs for seven or eight months, living with his mother, and working his first paying job. As a result, D.P. had become a regular fixture in his children's lives since the fall of 2004.