Opinion ID: 1343594
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to Terminate Parental Rights

Text: Both the Stems and DHHR [29] argue that the circuit court erred by not terminating the parental rights of the natural parents. In support of this assignment, these parties cite in In re Jeffrey R.L., 190 W.Va. 24, 435 S.E.2d 162 (1993), in which we held that: Parental rights may be terminated where there is clear and convincing evidence that the infant child has suffered extensive physical abuse while in the custody of his or her parents, and there is no reasonable likelihood that the conditions of abuse can be substantially corrected because the perpetrator of the abuse has not been identified and the parents, even in the face of knowledge of the abuse, have taken no action to identify the abuser. Id. at 25-26, 435 S.E.2d at 163-64, Syl. Pt. 3. They question whether Lisa K. properly acknowledged that she committed an abusive act towards Jonathan G. The record reveals that during the adjudicatory hearing on February 19, 1991, the circuit court expressly incorporated the report of the psychologist, Hal Slaughter, to whom Lisa K. admitted that she had committed the act resulting in Jonathan G.'s shaken baby diagnosis. The circuit court's order further states [t]he mother acknowledged in the affirmative. While it is somewhat unclear from this language whether the circuit court was referencing an in-court affirmation by Lisa K. regarding the act of abuse, nonetheless, the parties stipulated to the admission of Mr. Slaughter's report which contained the admission of abuse. The facts of this case simply are not the equivalent of those present in In re Jeffrey R.L. While Lisa K. did vacillate when subsequently questioned regarding the act of abuse during therapy, Dr. Kradel suggests an explanation in his report of February 3, 1994: In some instances individuals have emotional blockages where traumatic experiences are removed from conscious awareness and they truly do not remember what has happened to them or what they have done. Another explanation provided by the signing counselors, according to the prosecutor's brief, is that the mother could no longer recount the abuse ... because in therapy they had moved beyond that point and progressed toward positive interaction with the child. While Lisa K. may have shown some ambivalence about her earlier admission of abuse, [30] the original acknowledgment was nonetheless made. [31] Moreover, both the natural parents cooperated with therapeutic intervention, that was ultimately deemed beneficial. The termination proceedings ended on the State's motion to withdraw the petition with DHHR joining in this decision. We find no abuse of discretion regarding the circuit court's granting of that motion based on its finding that the evidence presented at that time was not sufficient to justify termination. Apparently, the circuit court, the State, and DHHR all agreed that the evidence, at this time, did not support a finding that the conditions that led to the abuse could not be substantially corrected. The record reveals that the guardian ad litem had no objection to the withdrawal of the termination petition. [32]