Opinion ID: 2741596
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: OCS’s Involvement With The Family

Text: The family’s first encounter with OCS was in 2006, when the agency investigated a report of harm claiming that the family’s pet pit bull bit Ian’s face. The doctor who evaluated Ian determined that he suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with complex emotional trauma, and probable chronic post-traumatic stress disorder relative to a disruptive chaotic home environment and exposure to domestic violence and drug and alcohol use. The doctor also noted that Ian had probable brain damage and recommended more assessments and medication. Ian’s mental illness and behavioral issues were compounded by his lack of care at home. At age six, Ian had to feed himself, routinely stayed up until 2:00 in the morning, had to get himself up and off to school, and often left for school on an empty stomach. OCS initiated a plan to help Ian’s parents manage his aggressive behavior. To assist in parenting education, a family support agent with Kenai Peninsula Community Care Center met with the parents twice a week for eight months. According -3- 6957 to the agent, Anna was relatively engaged, but Jamie showed little interest in parenting and rarely participated. The agent eventually discharged the family from in-home services because they had missed several meetings in a row and neither parent had followed through with a structured routine or adequate supervision for Ian. OCS was not significantly involved with the family again until June 2011, when police called OCS to report that Anna was suicidal; Anna had called friends and told them she was planning to leave James and Jon in the car while she walked into the forest to kill herself. At that time, Ian and Kirsty were at home alone, and Jamie was in jail because of a domestic incident involving a firearm. An OCS worker went to the home and discovered that the children were very hungry, five-year-old Kirsty was wearing nothing but a diaper, and ten-year-old Ian was hoarding an empty peanut butter container. There was plenty of food for the pit bulls in the yard, but no nutritious food for the children. Ian and Kirsty were placed in one emergency foster home, and James and Jon were placed in another.2 Prins filed an Emergency Petition for Adjudication of Children in Need of Aid and for Temporary Custody, asserting that the children were in need of aid under AS 47.10.011(2), (8), (9), and (11).3 2 Ultimately, Kirsty was moved to live in the same foster home as James and Jon. 3 AS 47.10.011 provides in pertinent part that the superior court may find a child to be a child in need of aid if it finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the child has been subjected to: (2) a parent being incarcerated, (8) conduct or conditions created by the parent that have resulted in mental injury to the child or placed the child at substantial risk of mental injury as a result of a pattern of the parent’s behavior, (9) parental neglect, or (11) parental mental illness or serious emotional disturbance that places the child at substantial risk of harm. -4- 6957