Court Opinion

ID: 9724302
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 10:52:22.314544+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:59.120574
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(concurring).
I concur on Issue One (MOTHER’S DENIED CONTINUANCE).
On Issue Two (DEPENDENCY AND NEGLECT AS TO FATHER), I concur because the father subjected these children to extremely difficult and bad conditions by sheltering them at Vale, South Dakota, in a shell (house) which was simply uninhabitable, i.e., frozen pipes, no refrigerator, no cooking stove, filthy conditions, and with no beds — simply a mattress on the floor.
On Issue Three (HEARSAY TESTIMONY AGAINST FATHER), I concur under the language of SDCL 19-9-14(7) and our holding in C.J.H., 371 N.W.2d 345 (S.D.1985), a unanimous opinion written by this special writer. Trial courts and lawyers have been relying on this statute and said decision. Consistency in the application thereof should be maintained. See also, People in Interest of C.H., 390 N.W.2d 54 (S.D.1986).
On Issue Four (TERMINATION OF FATHER’S PARENTAL RIGHTS), there is no doubt that father, after the adjudicatory phase, began to parent these children in a far better manner. He cooperated with the DSS, completed his STEP classes, started a new job in Sturgis, and took an active interest in the girls’ activities. His life was looking up. The trial court was seriously considering returning the girls to him, and so stated. However, the sexual abuse surfaced. I quote the trial court from the record: “... but for the sexual contact of [D.M.] that a termination would be out of line with regard to [D.M.]. I feel that with the sexual contact that I have no recourse but to terminate....” Aside from the hearsay evidence on sexual abuse (statements from DSS operatives) there is evidence, physical in nature, corrobating his abuse of at least one of these girls by a physician who examined her. He found that the perineal area was quite irritated in a linear fashion down along the labia mino-ra bilaterally. Hence, I am compelled to *272protect these girls from further abuse and I join the majority opinion on this issue, also.