Opinion ID: 1997862
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A.R.'s History.

Text: A.R. was born on December 4, 1987. His mother is a paranoid schizophrenic who has abused unlawful drugs, engaged in assaultive conduct against social workers, and contemplated suicide. A.R.'s father has been convicted, inter alia, of distribution of cocaine, and he has been incarcerated for substantial portions of his son's life. On August 30, 1990, the District filed a neglect petition in the Superior Court alleging that A.R., then two and a half years old, had been found on the corner of Fourteenth and Swann Streets, N.W., without adult supervision. At that time, the whereabouts of A.R.'s father were unknown. The mother stipulated that A.R. was a neglected child because her mental illness precluded her from caring for him adequately. A.R. was placed in shelter care, and he was subsequently committed to the custody of the Department of Human Services (DHS). In late 1990, through the offices of the Methodist Board of Child Care, A.R. was placed in the foster home of Mrs. Fay Dent and her husband, Reginald Dent. Mrs. Dent, an articulate woman of considerable sophistication, [2] testified movingly about A.R.'s condition when he came to her home. She explained that, although he was two years and ten months old, he was unable to speak and babbled like an infant. A.R. was not yet toilet-trained, and he was unfamiliar with eating utensils. Indeed, [w]hen he would try to drink out of a cup he would literally turn it upside down and the liquid would cover his nose and then he would choke. He ate hurriedly, like a child who had not had anything to eat on a regular basis. A.R. was found to be hyperactive, and he suffered from attention deficit disorder. The Dents introduced A.R. to a regimen of structure and love, and he received medication as well as occupational, physical and speech therapy. He also had the opportunity to play with the four other children in the home. A.R. soon showed dramatic improvement. Mrs. Dent testified that A.R. went into a normal kindergarten class and he was able to excel like a little king so to speak. . . . He went in, he stayed on task with the class, he received progress reports that said outstanding student, good working habits. When he left, [to go] to the new place, he actually was at the top of his class. The Dents had hoped to adopt A.R. In August 1991, however, Mr. Dent suffered a massive heart attack. He became disabled, and the family's financial situation deteriorated. Mrs. Dent testified that, for these reasons, the Dents felt unable to go through with their plans for adoption. Mrs. Dent stated that, in her view, A.R. was an adoptable child. In December 1993, A.R. was moved to a preadoptive home with Ricky and Aleta Armstrong. This placement, however, proved unsuccessful, apparently because A.R. did not regularly receive the medication which had been prescribed to control his hyperactivity and his attention deficit disorder. In April 1994, it came to the attention of DHS, inter alia, that A.R. had been assaulting younger children and stealing and hoarding food, that he had poured calamine lotion on the rug, and that he had tried to choke the family's pet rabbit. On May 19, 1994, A.R. was moved to a new preadoptive home with the Harris family. The Harrises live near the Dents, and they knew A.R. from his three-year sojourn in the Dent household. A.R. received his medication regularly, and his behavior promptly improved. A DHS social worker testified that the new adoptive family is definitely able to meet [A.R.'s] needs and that this is the perfect family for him right now. The judge found that, as a result of this move, life turned around for A.R. At the time of the hearing, however, A.R. had been with the Harrises for only one month. The social worker acknowledged that she had visited the Harris home only once, that the other children were at school at the time of her visit, and that she had therefore been unable to observe A.R.'s interaction with them.