Court Opinion

ID: 9761755
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:53:16.141296+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:26.036104
License: Public Domain

SERCOMBE, J.,
dissenting.
I agree with the dissent that the state failed to make its case that integration of child into father’s home was *160“improbable within a reasonable time due to conduct or conditions not likely to change” under ORS 419B.504. The state did not clearly prove that father’s condition, a paraphilia mental disorder, could not be treated so as to remedy any risk to child within a period of time that is reasonable to allow for family reunification. There was evidence in the record that that treatment outcome was possible within six months and that beginning integration at that time would not be more injurious to child than an earlier start. Nor did the state prove that father’s post-prison supervision conditions would preclude timely reunification efforts. In my view, the state did not present sufficient evidence to show satisfaction of the standards in ORS 419B.504 by clear and convincing proof.
I agree with the majority, however, that a finding of past reasonable efforts is not necessary in every ORS 419B.504 case. A failure to provide reasonable services might make it more difficult for the state to prove that the parent’s “conduct or conditions [are] not likely to change” under ORS 419B.504. But such a failure should not categorically prevent termination of parental rights under the statute as suggested by Judge Wollheim in his dissent. Had the state clearly proved that father’s condition created a risk to child that would not change without two years of treatment, and that that period of time was unreasonable for integration, then father’s rights could have been terminated notwithstanding a failure to provide services much earlier in the dependency process. But the state did not prove this by clear and convincing evidence. Instead, the evidence was equivocal and largely presented through the supportive testimony of father’s own therapist. That inferiority of proof precludes termination.