Opinion ID: 1649129
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Juvenile Court's Findings Regarding Termination of Shawna's Parental Rights

Text: The juvenile court found clear and convincing evidence that Shawna had failed to comply with her goals and objectives and had placed Shelby at risk. The court specifically found that Shawna's indifference to a time when Shelby appeared to be ill as she was playing cards with a friend and waited till the next day to then take her to an emergency room is indication [sic] to the court that she is still unable to care for Shelby's needs. The court apparently made this finding based on Shawna's testimony regarding her medical contacts over a 3-day period in July 2001 when Shelby had an earache. Yet, the record shows that during this 3-day period, Shawna took Shelby to MacDonald's office on Friday, July 13, 2001, for an earache that had started on Thursday. The rest of Friday and Saturday, Shelby was not feeling well. Saturday evening, Shawna had a friend over to play cards and held Shelby the entire time because Shelby would not sleep otherwise. The record reveals that around midnight, Shawna called a nursing service provided by MacDonald's office and then took Shelby to the emergency room, as she had been instructed. On Sunday morning, the emergency room physician called to advise Shawna to watch Shelby to make sure she was urinating. Later that day, after consulting the family support worker, Shawna called the nursing service again about Shelby's temperature and infrequent urination. The nursing service advised her to take Shelby to Children's Hospital in Omaha. The hospital physicians saw no sign of dehydration, but they did diagnose Shelby with tonsillitis and viral syndrome. The juvenile court's finding that Shawna failed to immediately seek emergency medical treatment obviously does not support termination based on the relevant allegation from the adjudication petition, i.e., that Shawna had subjected Shelby to unnecessary medical treatment to her detriment. The court not only ignored the relevant allegation, its finding demonstrates Shawna's dilemma. On the one hand, the juvenile court viewed Shawna's attempts to comfort Shelby before seeking emergency medical care as an indication that she did not recognize when Shelby required emergency medical care. On the other hand, Clark testified that there was no reason for Shawna to seek emergency medical care over this 3-day period and even emphasized the emergency room visits to bolster her opinion that Shawna was seeking unnecessary medical care.