Opinion ID: 2011173
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The alleged failures of the agencies.

Text: A constant theme running through the judge's findings in this case was her perception that any difficulties which M.D., Sr. might have in being a fit parent were the result of the failure of DHS, and perhaps of other agencies, to carry out their obligations vis-a-vis the father. Given the judge's finding that the father consistently abused and harassed the social workers who dealt with him, and considering the expert testimony regarding the father's consistent habit of blaming others for his own trials and tribulations, the rights and wrongs with respect to this issue do not all favor the father. But even if we were to assume, for the sake of argument, that this difficult and uncooperative parent was entitled gratis to extensive social services and that the agencies failed to provide them, cf. In re A.C., 597 A.2d 920, 923 (D.C.1991), [16] then that assumption could not sustain the result which was reached below. As we recently had occasion to explain in L.W., supra, in rejecting the approach adopted by the trial judge in this case, ... even if, as [the judge] suggested in her order denying the TPR, the social workers might have been more cooperative, ... the remedy cannot be to prohibit an adoption which is demonstrably in [the child's] interest; the child cannot be punished for the alleged wrongs of the bureaucracy. 613 A.2d at 355 n. 11 (emphasis added and citation omitted). We reiterate that the overriding consideration is the best interest of the child, which may compel the filing of a motion to terminate parental rights regardless of the defaults of public agencies in seeking reunification of the family. A.C., supra, 597 A.2d at 925. [17]