Opinion ID: 1757549
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts and procedural disposition

Text: Between her 16th and 18th birthdays, N.M. gave birth to three children: K.M., a boy, on July 16, 1991; S.M., another boy, on November 2, 1992; and J.M., a girl, on June 13, 1994. [3] After K.M.'s birth, he lived with Rosa Dunn, his great grandmother, and after S.M.'s birth, he lived with Edna Dunn, the mother of Lonjay Earlycutt, the man with whom N.M. lived during her pregnancy and who believed he was S.M.'s father. N.M. has never lived in a home of her own. She mainly lived in an apartment provided by others. After N.M. was pregnant with J.M., she began living with James Johnson who was approximately twenty-four years of age. During this same period of time, N.M., for the first time, brought her two sons, K.M. and S.M., to live with her. On January 10, 1996, Johnson beat S.M., the middle child who was three years old, so badly that N.M. called 911 because S.M. was not breathing; the beating occurred, in part, while N.M. was not at home and continued after she returned home. When the police arrived at the scene, they found S.M. unconscious and not breathing, with bruises and welts about his body, and two black eyes. Although the police officers thought that S.M. was DOA, they transported him to the nearest medical facility, Medical Center of Louisiana, where he was revived. Upon medical examination, it was determined that S.M. had multiple scalp bruises, a right temporal contusion, periorbital swelling, an old trauma on his chest with generalized bruising, old abdominal scars, bruised lower extremities with old burns, burns on the left knee and ankle, an open laceration on the right hand, an abrasion to the left axilla, an ulcer on the glans penis which had second-degree burns as well as healed burns, and multiple old scars on the back and buttocks. Orthopedic examination showed that S.M. suffered a fracture of the distal left ulna with callus formation compatible with healing which required the placement of a plaster cast, as well as a dislocation fracture of the capitulum of the humerus. Matthew Riles, a detective assigned to the Child Abuse Section of the Emergency Services Bureau, interviewed N.M. She told Detective Riles that Johnson had been abusing S.M. since March of 1995. She said that Johnson made S.M. sleep in the bathtub almost every night because S.M. often wet the bed. She also described incidents where Johnson struck S.M. with his hands and a bowl of food and one occasion where Johnson burned S.M. with hot water. She told Detective Riles that she had not told anyone about the abuse because Johnson had threatened to take care of her if she told and she was afraid. Detective Riles also questioned K.M., who, along with J.M. and N.M., had been brought to the Child Abuse Office when S.M. was hospitalized. K.M. told Detective Riles that Johnson hit him, and had put hot water on him and S.M. He further described occasions where Johnson hit S.M. with his hands and his mother's shoe, and where he had tied S.M.'s hands. A medical examination of K.M. revealed bruises on his chest and behind his right ear, as well as old scars from belt marks on his buttocks. Medical personnel also examined J.M. and found that she had a bump on her forehead. Based upon the children's abusive injuries and the above information, N.M. and Johnson were arrested. N.M. was charged and pleaded guilty to three counts of cruelty to juveniles. She was sentenced to concurrent five year terms with the Department of Corrections on each count; the sentencing court suspended the sentence and placed N.M. on five years active probation. As a special condition of probation, the sentencing court required N.M. to serve twelve months imprisonment with the Department of Corrections, earn her graduate equivalency diploma (GED), and obtain vocational technical school training. [4] Johnson was charged with three counts of cruelty to a juvenile and the attempted second-degree murder of S.M. He pleaded guilty and was ordered to serve an eight and one-half year sentence, without the benefit of probation or suspension of sentence. [5] On January 11, 1996, an oral instanter order issued, placing N.M.'s three minor children in the protective custody of the State. At a probable cause hearing held on January 12, 1996, the Juvenile Court for the Parish of Orleans found that there were reasonable grounds to find the three children abused and neglected, and in need of care, and awarded their provisional protective custody to the State. On February 12, 1996, the District Attorney initiated proceedings to have the three minor children adjudicated children in need of care. At a hearing on May 15, 1996, it was stipulated that the three minor children, K.M., S.M., and J.M., were abused/neglected children in need of care, and an order issued placing them in protective custody. The juvenile court awarded the care, custody and control of the children to the Office of Community Services (OCS) for a period of eighteen months. S.M. was placed in the home of a foster parent; K.M. and J.M. were placed in the home of their maternal great grandmother, Rosa Dunn. On August 30, 1996, S.M. was moved from the first foster home and placed in the home of Edna and Edgar Alexis. On November 4, 1996, after serving approximately nine months of her sentence, N.M. was released from prison and began her five year probationary period. Upon release from prison, N.M. moved in with Johnson's sister. At a review hearing on November 14, 1996, the juvenile court noted that OCS had developed a plan goal of reunifying the three minor children with their mother. In order to achieve reunification, the juvenile court decree contained the following provisions: IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the parent(s) participate in the following programs in order to achieve re-unification at the earliest possible time, by demonstrating to the Court that the behavior leading to the adjudication of dependency have [sic] been eliminated or significantly reduced, such that the child [sic] is no longer at risk. More specifically, the mother, N.M., is ordered to immediately: 1) Enroll in, fully participate in, and successfully complete parenting classes. 2) Submit to a psychological evaluation, submit to all treatment as indicated, fully participate in all counselling [sic] and treatment and consistently take all medication as prescribed. 3) Enroll in, and fully participate in, and successfully complete a Battered Women's program. 4) Obtain stable housing. 5) Maintain regular contact with the OCS. The mother is further ordered to appear on time for all evaluations, treatments, services, and programs outlined above. (Emphasis added). In the meantime, the judgment continued the children in the legal custody of OCS, confirmed their placements as being the least restrictive and in their best interest, provided N.M. with weekly supervised visitation with the children, and granted liberal sibling visitation. On December 16, 1996, Dr. J. Steven York, a clinical psychologist, interviewed N.M. to assess [her] ability to parent her children and to determine whether she require[d] psychotherapy. Succinctly stated, Dr. York found that N.M. had limited ability to parent children, that her thinking was immature, that she had minimal motivation for the return of her children, and that she did not believe that she could handle all three children. He further recorded that N.M. expressed that it was best for her three children to remain in foster care. He recommended that N.M. undergo psychotherapy to explore her needs and motivations for the return of her children and stressed that psychotherapy was essential to evaluate if reunification would overwhelm her if all of the children were returned. Following a second review hearing on January 30, 1997, the juvenile court entered a judgment continuing OCS's custody of the children, confirmed the home placements of the children, and further noted that N.M. had been complying with the case plan and the court's orders. At that time, the court set a Permanency Placement Planning hearing for July 31, 1997. At the July 31st hearing, the juvenile court heard the testimony of N.M. and Zelda Sereal, the OCS case worker who has overseen this case since May of 1996. Ms. Sereal testified that N.M. was again pregnant, and since March of 1997, she had been living with the grandmother of the man who allegedly fathered this child. [6] She further testified that N.M. completed a parenting program and a battered women's program in February and May of 1997, respectively. She also stated that N.M. completed a GED program at the beginning of 1997 and that she had been employed at a MacDonald's restaurant until medical problems associated with her pregnancy caused her to quit. During the hearing, it was also learned that N.M. had attended three psychotherapy sessions with Gwendolyn Charles, a board certified social worker, but was resistant to continuing; as a result of N.M.'s unwillingness to attend, the therapist canceled further sessions. The juvenile court also reviewed the OCS report of July 16, 1997, and the July 29, 1997, CASA report, [7] both urging reunification. These reports based their opinion on N.M. completing some of her conditions of probation mentioned above. Profoundly missing from their opinions are the reports from the health professionals and social workers that evaluated N.M., and find the N.M. did not make progress toward changing her conduct that led to the abusive injuries of the children. All of these reports were against the reunification plan and expressed grave concern for the children's welfare if the juvenile court would approve the reunification plan. These grave concerns were not addressed by OCS, CASA, or the juvenile court. After considering the testimonies of the OCS case worker and N.M., together with the various reports, the juvenile court continued the three minor children in OCS's custody and approved the plan for reunification. However, the juvenile court concluded that reunification at a later time should be gradual and incremental, starting with J.M., the youngest child. It ordered N.M. to continue taking those steps needed to enable her to care for her children; she was told to submit to psychotherapy, participate in family therapy with her children and obtain stable housing, all to the court's satisfaction. The juvenile court further ordered OCS to schedule another hearing when OCS considered that it was appropriate for J.M. to be returned to N.M.'s care. The juvenile court next specified that it, not OCS, would retain oversight of this case. On this basis, the juvenile court stated that the children would not be returned to N.M. unless it was fully satisfied that such reunification was in the best interest of the children. The children's attorney appealed the juvenile court judgment, urging that N.M. was unfit to retain parental control and there was no reasonable expectation of reformation in the foreseeable future. Their attorney further submitted that based on the law and evidence, the juvenile court should have ordered the filing of a petition for the involuntary termination of parental rights. In support of this argument, the children pointed out: (1) N.M.'s past and current history of unstable male relationships and unstable lifestyle; (2) her inability to earn money sufficient to sustain the children; and (3) her lack of parenting skills. In rejecting this argument, the appellate court found no manifest error on the part of the juvenile court, highlighting that N.M. had completed parenting classes and a battered women's program, obtained her GED, acquired employment, submitted to psychological evaluation, and attended three counseling sessions. In a strongly worded concurrence, Judge Plotkin stated that he did not think that reformation and reunification were likely in the foreseeable future. He nonetheless felt jurisprudentially bound that unless there has been absolutely no progress toward reformation, termination of parental rights was not a viable option.