Court Opinion

ID: 9399159
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-06-02 07:09:42.105893+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:19:39.191535
License: Public Domain

In The

                          Court of Appeals

             Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

                           __________________

                          NO. 09-22-00426-CV
                           __________________

                     IN THE INTEREST OF H.M.

__________________________________________________________________

            On Appeal from the 317th District Court
                    Jefferson County, Texas
                    Trial Cause No. C-240,693
__________________________________________________________________

                      MEMORANDUM OPINION

     Father appeals an order terminating his parent-child relationship

with his one-year-old daughter, H.M. (Hailey). 1 Father’s parental rights

were terminated after the trial court found by clear and convincing

evidence in a trial before the bench that he:

     1To   protect the identities of Father and H.M., we use pseudonyms
in the opinion in place of names. See Tex. R. App. P. 9.8(a), (b). The trial
court’s findings of facts show that Hailey’s mother is deceased.
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     (1) knowingly placed or knowingly allowed Hailey to remain in
         conditions or surroundings that endangered her physical or
         emotional well-being;

     (2) engaged in conduct or knowingly placed Hailey with persons
         who engaged in conduct that endangered her physical or
         emotional well-being;

     (3) constructively abandoned Hailey, who had been in the
         permanent or temporary managing conservatorship of the
         Department of Family and Protective Services for not less than
         six months; and

     (4) failed to comply with the provisions of a court order establishing
         the actions Father was required to follow for Hailey to be
         returned after she was placed in Department care for not less
         than nine months after being removed from her home for abuse
         or neglect. 2

In addition to the above findings, the trial court found by clear and

convincing evidence that terminating Father’s parent-child relationship

with Hailey is in Hailey’s best interest.

     After Father perfected his appeal, his court-appointed attorney

filed a brief. The brief the attorney filed provides the attorney’s

professional evaluation of the record and asserts that no arguable

     2See   Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 161.001(b)(1)(D), (E), (N), (O).
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grounds exist to support Father’s appeal. 3 The attorney certified that she

sent Father a copy of the brief she filed in his appeal.

     After Father’s brief was filed with the Court, the Clerk of the Ninth

Court of Appeals notified Father that he had until March 6, 2023, to file

a pro se response. But the appellate record demonstrates Father did not

file a response.

     We have independently reviewed the record. Based on our review,

we find Father’s appeal to be frivolous. Accordingly, we need not appoint

another attorney to re-brief the appeal. 4

     For the above reasons, the trial court’s judgment is

     AFFIRMED.

                                              _________________________
                                                   HOLLIS HORTON
                                                        Justice

Submitted on April 3, 2023
Opinion Delivered June 1, 2023

Before Horton, Johnson and Wright, JJ.

     3See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967); In the Int. of L.D.T.,
161 S.W.3d 728, 731 (Tex. App.—Beaumont 2005, no pet.).
     4Cf. Stafford v. State, 813 S.W.2d 503, 511 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991).

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