Opinion ID: 1795717
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: DHS workers and Helen Barnett's Witnesses:

Text: ¶ 22. Mary Lee Robinson, a social worker for the Lee County DHS, and a witness for Barnett, stated that she was involved in the case until 1998, but had not seen Charles since then, nor met Karlene, nor been in Charles and Karlene's home. She read from her DHS case file that a 1996 DHS service agreement was never completed by Charles and Brenda, that Charles refused to sign a second agreement, but that both Charles and Brenda later completed parenting classes. The file showed that in 1997, when the older son, then age 2, was on trial placement with Charles and Brenda, Charles's mother found Charles smoking marijuana in the child's presence. She noted that Charles was sporadically in and out of the children's lives during this period. Her file showed that Helen was given durable legal custody in December of 1998, and that DHS records show allegations of child abuse against Charles in March and October, 1999, and in July 2000. [4] The record shows that the March, 1999 allegation was substantiated. Although she had not been involved in the case since 1998, she believed that the children had bonded with Helen and it would be harmful to totally remove them from Helen's home. ¶ 23. Leslie Hinds, a clinical social worker at the Mantachie Clinic and a witness for Barnett, said she had met with both children seven or eight times over a three to four month period. Helen was present during the sessions. She stated that the younger boy was visibly upset about the idea of visiting his father, but the older boy was not. This is in contrast to the testimony of her co-worker, Dr. Trudy Porter, discussed below. Hinds stated that Helen had told her that the younger boy did not want to visit his father and that Helen might be unintentionally influencing the minor children against Charles. She testified that she had never met Charles and would need extensive sessions with all parties before giving a final opinion in the case. ¶ 24. Sonja Sanderson, a social worker for the Prentiss County DHS, testified for Helen regarding the investigation into shaken baby syndrome suffered by the third child who was removed from the Oathout home. She testified on cross-examination that Charles had passed a lie detector test with regard to this investigation and that he followed DHS recommendations in the matter. ¶ 25. Jenny Barnes, a nurse practitioner at Mantachie Clinic, saw the younger child when Helen brought him to the clinic for cigarette burns caused by Karlene. The chancellor's opinion does not indicate any testimony from Ms. Barnes about who should have custody, but she stated that both boys are asthmatic and should not be around smoking. ¶ 26. Dr. Trudy Porter, a clinical psychologist with the Mantachie Clinic, testified that she had been seeing the boys on a weekly basis since June, 1999, when Helen complained that she thought there were problems with the children after visiting with Charles. She stated that the older child had limited cognitive skills and expressed negative feelings towards Charles, including anger and rejection, but that the younger child was not negative towards Charles, and visitation did not seem to upset him. She stated that she could not tell any difference in the children after a weekend visitation period with Charles. She stated that the children needed counseling due to the impact all this has had on them. Her opinion was that Helen had not tried to influence the children against Charles and that the children needed security and stability and should remain with Helen because she provides the security and stability they need. ¶ 27. Mike Burleson testified that he was a private investigator hired by Helen to follow Charles when he had the minor children for visitation. He testified that he had seen Karlene smoking in their van with the children present on one occasion.