Opinion ID: 1757549
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: standard for permanency placement plan and reformation

Text: From the outset, we note that this case presents us with a review of OCS's Permanency Placement Plan as proposed to the juvenile court pursuant to Chapter 13 of the Children's Code. Even though the focus of our opinion is on the mother's reformation, this issue is presented to us in the context of whether reunification, the objective of this Permanency Placement Plan, is consistent with the best interest and special needs of the child[ren]. La.Ch.Code art. 675. Throughout the remainder of this opinion we refer to the jurisprudence and codal provisions regarding parental reformation in the context of the termination of parental rights, La.Ch.Code art. 1015, since it has been in that framework that courts have shaped the concept of parental reformation. [8] Prior to August 15, 1997, there was no statutory guidance in determining whether the parent had shown reformation sufficient to preserve family reunification as a viable option to termination of parental rights. [9] However, after reviewing the jurisprudence, we established the test in State in Interest of L.L.Z. that a reasonable expectation of reformation is found to exist if the parent has cooperated with state officials and has shown improvement, although all of the problems that exist have not been eliminated. 620 So.2d at 1317 (emphasis added). Utilizing our statement in State in Interest of L.L.Z. as a springboard for elaboration, several appellate courts have held that reformation means more than mere cooperation with agency authorities. More importantly, reformation of the parent is shown by a significant, substantial indication of reformation... such as altering or modifying in a significant way the behavior which served as a basis for the state's removal of a child from the home. State in Interest of EG, 95-0018 (La.App. 1 Cir. 6/23/95), 657 So.2d 1094, writ denied, 95-1865 (La.9/1/95), 658 So.2d 1263; see State in Interest of J.M., 30,302 (La.App. 2 Cir. 10/29/97), 702 So.2d 45, writ denied, 97-2924 (La.2/6/98), 709 So.2d 736; State in Interest of T.D. v. Webb, 28,471 (La.App. 2 Cir. 5/8/96), 674 So.2d 1077; State in Interest of BJ, 95-1915 (La.App. 1 Cir. 4/4/96), 672 So.2d 342, writ denied, 96-1036 (La.5/31/96), 674 So.2d 264; State in Interest of GA, 94-2227 (La.App. 1 Cir. 7/27/95), 664 So.2d 106; see also State in Interest of Four Minor Children v. D.W., 585 So.2d 1222 (La.App. 2 Cir.1991). Furthermore, the jurisprudence has held that [a] parent who professes an intention to exercise his or her parental rights and responsibilities must take some action in furtherance of the intention to avoid having those rights terminated. State in Interest of J.M., 702 So.2d at 49; see also State in Interest of D.T. v. K.T., 29,796 (La. App. 2 Cir. 6/18/97), 697 So.2d 665. In reviewing the appellate courts' treatment of reformation since we rendered State in Interest of L.L.Z., we find that their elaboration is fully in accordance with our ruling and our application of that pronouncement to the facts of that case. [10] We recall that the parent in State in Interest of L.L.Z. not only cooperated with the Department of Social Services, but also showed improvement in the areas which had allegedly caused the State to intervene on behalf of the child's protection. Additionally, we found that the parent exhibited that her conduct had stabilized. State in Interest of L.L.Z., 620 So.2d at 1317. In that case, we particularly noted that the parent learned how to keep house, deal with her finances, and provide food and shelter for her step-children. Id. Without so specifically enunciating, in reality we found that the mother showed improvement by altering or modifying in a significant way the behavior which served as a basis for the State's removal of her child from the home. In the present case, we find that the lower courts improperly focused their evaluation of the Permanency Placement Plan on N.M.'s cooperation with OCS and failed to assess whether she exhibited significant improvement in the particulars that had caused the State to remove her children from her care and custody. Specifically, in weighing the feasibility of the proposed Permanency Placement Plan, we find that the lower courts failed to address the significant and serious issues posed from the outset by Dr. York and continuously reiterated by the various social workers and further neglected to ascribe the negative value that N.M.'s unimproved behavior necessitated. From the very beginning, Dr. York stressed N.M.'s immature thinking process, her verbalized concern that she may not be able to handle all of her children, and her need to undergo individualized psychotherapy to address her role in her children's abuse/neglect as an integral facet of any reunification plan. Despite this, the record establishes that as of the time of the July 31, 1997, Permanency Placement Planning hearing, N.M. had discontinued individual psychotherapy, family psychotherapy had not yet begun, and she had not exhibited behavior that evidenced her ability to care for the needs of her three children in any respect. The paramount evidence in a case such as this, i.e., a significant and substantial indication of reformation from behavior which served as a basis for the State's removal of the children, is totally lacking from the record. To the contrary, the evidence overwhelmingly shows that her prognosis along these lines is dismal at best. All of the social workers who observed and assisted N.M. and her children objected to OCS's proposed reunification plan. [11] Karen Pellerin, a clinical psychologist intern who met with K.M. in 1996 and 1997, poignantly recorded that K.M. expresses anger and fear toward N.M. for his own abuse and that endured by his younger brother, S.M. In stark contrast, she found that K.M.'s placement with his great grandmother provided him with a safe, nurturing, and stable place to develop. Meredith Knight, also a clinical psychologist intern who counseled K.M. in 1997 and 1998, mirrored Pellerin's observation of K.M.'s rage against his mother, and further questioned whether reunification with N.M. would not exacerbate the hurt he already had experienced. Elaine Spencer-Carver, a social worker who counseled S.M. from January through July of 1997, was also gravely concerned about OCS's reunification plan. She pointed out that S.M. had lived away from his mother for almost his entire life, except for the period when he was abused. In his foster home, his bowel and bladder problems improved significantly and, unlike the treatment he received in his mother's presence, his needs were met and his well being was nurtured. Finally, Ruth W. Landis, another social worker who interviewed N.M. and the children on numerous occasions in 1997 and early 1998, seriously questioned whether N.M., despite her seeming cooperation, had the ability to care for her children and to carry through with the plan devised to return her children to her. Independently reaching the same recommendations Dr. York made better than a year earlier, Ms. Landis stressed that N.M. had to undergo intensive individual psychotherapy, a course of action she had voluntarily abandoned, to deal with her own problems and the needs and demands of her now four children. Ultimately, she clearly stated that the children's safety and sense of stability had to be the primary consideration of OCS in adopting its Permanency Placement Plan, and OCS's goal of reunification should be reassessed in that light. The record now before us shows that there has been some cooperation by N.M. with OCS and the juvenile court's requirements. However, the evidence of record has not shown that N.M. has met the second prong of the test outlined in State in Interest of L.L.Z., namely that N.M. has shown improvement. Id. at 1317. It is clear that she has not demonstrated that the behavior that led to the adjudication of dependency has been eliminated or significantly reduced, such that her three children are no longer at risk. Although it is evident from her statements that N.M. loves her children, her behavior belies her statements that her cooperation with the juvenile court's orders has led to her improvement sufficient to demonstrate that reunification is in the best interest of the three children. N.M. has maintained her same lifestyle. She has never established a residence of her own, choosing instead to live here and there with friends and acquaintances, and to change residences frequently. In addition, she has consistently and repeatedly entered into brief romantic and unstable relationships with men, even one immediately after these proceedings began; as a result, each of N.M.'s four children were fathered by different men, and as evidenced by the blood test results entered into the record, some of those men thought to have been the fathers were not. As a result of one of her romantic relationships, complications of pregnancy caused N.M. to quit the only job she ever had, thus exacerbating her inability to provide for her children and to secure an adequate home for them. Finally, although N.M. attended a parenting class as ordered by the juvenile court, by her own admission she learned nothing beneficial. Moreover, as graphically depicted in Karen Pellerin's report to the court, N.M. spanked K.M. during a supervised visit. Such contact causes K.M. intense psychological distress, physiological reactivity, and he feels as if the abuse were reoccurring.... His mother's insensitivity to this issue is of great concern. It not only indicates that she has little understanding of the psychological effect of K.M.'s abuse, but also that she has few effective discipline skills. That his mother would spank him in the context of a supervised visit, causes great concern about how she [N.M.] is likely to respond to K.M. during more stressful situations. More than simply protecting parental rights, our judicial system is required to protect the children's rights to thrive and survive. State in Interest of GA, 664 So.2d at 114 (citing State in Interest of JL, 93-352 (La.App. 3 Cir. 5/18/94), 636 So.2d 1186, 1192). Furthermore, a child has an interest in the termination of rights that prevent adoption and inhibit that child's establishment of secure, stable, long term, continuous family relationships. State in Interest of J.M., 702 So.2d at 50; State in Interest of T.S.B., 532 So.2d 866 (La.App. 4 Cir.1988), writ denied, 536 So.2d 1239 (La.1989). While the interest of a parent is protected in a termination proceeding by enforcing the procedural rules enacted to insure that parental rights are not thoughtlessly severed, those interests must ultimately yield to the paramount best interest of the children. See State in Interest of T.S.B., supra; State in Interest of S.A.D., 481 So.2d 191 (La.App. 1 Cir.1985); State in Interest of A.E., 448 So.2d 183 (La.App. 4 Cir.1984); State in Interest of Driscoll, 410 So.2d 255 (La.App. 4 Cir.1982). Our careful consideration of the record bears out N.M.'s inappropriate behavior patterns and actions, her continued inability to implement those skills after she had been exposed to the many resourceful programs offered for her benefit, her withdrawal from long term, individual psychotherapy, and the bleak picture the social workers and mental health professionals have painted for N.M.'s projected behavior should reunification take place. The undisputed evidence indicates that N.M.'s behavior has not shown improvement. Record evidence notably absent was the requisite evidence which could justify a finding that there was an expectation of N.M.'s reformation in the foreseeable future. The juvenile court's conclusion to the contrary simply flies in the face of the record. We find the juvenile court thereby abused its discretion in accepting OCS's proposal for reunification in its Permanency Placement Plan. Accordingly, we remand this matter to the juvenile court for OCS to propose a new Permanency Placement Plan for these three children. [12]