Court Opinion

ID: 9380764
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-03-21 14:04:12.981259+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:17:27.379589
License: Public Domain

NOTICE: Summary decisions issued by the Appeals Court pursuant to M.A.C. Rule
23.0, as appearing in 97 Mass. App. Ct. 1017 (2020) (formerly known as rule 1:28,
as amended by 73 Mass. App. Ct. 1001 [2009]), are primarily directed to the parties
and, therefore, may not fully address the facts of the case or the panel's
decisional rationale. Moreover, such decisions are not circulated to the entire
court and, therefore, represent only the views of the panel that decided the case.
A summary decision pursuant to rule 23.0 or rule 1:28 issued after February 25,
2008, may be cited for its persuasive value but, because of the limitations noted
above, not as binding precedent. See Chace v. Curran, 71 Mass. App. Ct. 258, 260
n.4 (2008).

                       COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

                                 APPEALS COURT

                                                  22-P-679

                             ADOPTION OF THELMA.1

               MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 23.0

        After a trial, a Juvenile Court judge found that the father

 was unfit to parent Thelma, and that her best interests would be

 served by the termination of his parental rights.              The father

 appeals from the decree terminating his parental rights.                We

 affirm.

        Background.    We set forth the facts found by the judge

 after trial, supplemented by some facts from the documentary

 record.    When Thelma was born in July 2019, the father was

 present and the mother identified him as Thelma's father, but he

 refused to sign the birth certificate.           Because Thelma's

 meconium tested positive for cocaine, a G. L. c. 119, § 51A,

 report was filed with the Department of Children and Families

 (DCF).

 1   A pseudonym.
    On the day after Thelma was born, the father met with the

DCF emergency response worker at the hospital.       The father told

the emergency response worker that he needed to be honest and

that he did not feel that he was at a point that he could care

for Thelma, if she was his child.      The father wanted to have

paternity testing done and said that he would be "fully

committed" if she was his child.

    The father had four other children, who lived with their

three respective mothers.   He had never been the primary

caretaker of any of those children, though he was named on their

birth certificates, visited them, and tried to support them and

their mothers.

    DCF instituted care and protection proceedings.        The father

attended the temporary custody hearing, G. L. c. 119, § 24, at

which he requested that paternity testing be done.       When Thelma

was six weeks old, she was placed in the care of the foster

parents, who became her preadoptive parents.      Because of her

prenatal substance exposure, Thelma had symptoms that included

tremors and tightened muscles, and she received early

intervention services.

    The judge found that the father's parenting during the

first year of Thelma's life was "minimal."       The father saw

Thelma for five one-hour visits at a DCF office, and failed to

appear for two scheduled visits.       Then the father stopped

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visiting Thelma; he testified at trial that it was because he

was "going through some things."       He no longer had any

communication with DCF.    The judge found "no evidence to

suggest" that DCF had stopped visits during the first year of

Thelma's life.   In July 2020, DCF changed its goal for Thelma

from reunification with the parents to adoption.

    For most of the second year of Thelma's life, the father

was incarcerated.    During the first five months of his

incarceration, the father did not contact DCF.      In November

2020, his paternity of Thelma was established.       In December

2020, the DCF social worker assigned to the case had a telephone

conversation with the father.    After that, the father had three

or four ten-minute video visits with Thelma.       During his

incarceration he completed a ninety-day program on coping with

stress, but did not engage in any other services.

    In the late spring of 2021, the father was released from

jail.    In June 2021, Thelma's mother died.     For three months

after the father's release from jail, the social worker

contacted him by text message because his telephone was not set

up to receive voice mail messages.      Although the social worker

had texted and called him to remind him, the father missed two

scheduled in-person visits with Thelma.       The father had a single

hour-long in-person visit with Thelma in July, one month before

trial.

                                   3
    After repeated attempts to schedule a home visit with the

father, the social worker finally had one on July 26, 2021.     The

father had been living for two months in an apartment with his

girlfriend and her two sons.   The boys slept in the two

bedrooms, and the two adults slept in the living room, where he

planned that Thelma would also sleep.   As of trial, the

girlfriend had never met Thelma, nor had she met with the DCF

social worker.

    At that home visit, the social worker discussed the action

plan and the father's tasks listed on it.   In the two months

since his release from jail, the father had not engaged in any

services.   As to the task that he attend a parenting class to

better understand Thelma's developmental needs, he had attended

a two-day class, but it was geared toward helping separated

parents to coparent and did not discuss child development.     As

to the task that he undergo a substance abuse evaluation, the

social worker offered to provide a referral for one, but the

father said that he believed he already had a referral and would

talk to his doctor.   As to the task that he submit to drug

screens and work on decreasing or stopping his marijuana use, he

said that he used marijuana every few days to relax; as of

trial, he had not provided DCF with any drug screens.   As to the

task that he engage in therapy, he told the social worker that

he had left a voice mail message for a therapist, who had called

                                4
him back, but he had not yet returned the call; at trial two

weeks later, he testified that he had an appointment scheduled

one week after that with a therapist, but he did not remember

the therapist's name.

       At the time of trial in August 2021, Thelma was two years

old.    Although he had been present at her birth, the father

repeatedly testified to an incorrect date of birth for her.          The

father was unsure if Thelma was involved with early intervention

services.    In fact, she had been attending those services weekly

since her placement with the preadoptive parents, and had

medical conditions including asthma, possible hepatitis B, and a

"lazy eye," for which she has been under the care of medical

specialists.

       Discussion.   1.   Unfitness.    The father argues that the

judge did not have sufficient evidence to find the father unfit

to parent Thelma, or that it was in Thelma's best interests to

terminate his parental rights.     He contends that his unfitness

was caused by DCF's failure to provide him with referrals to the

services and programs that DCF had recommended for him.        We

disagree.

       "To terminate parental rights to a child and to dispense

with parental consent to adoption, a judge must find by clear

and convincing evidence, based on subsidiary findings proved by

at least a fair preponderance of evidence, that the parent is

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unfit to care for the child and that termination is in the

child's best interests" (citation omitted).   Adoption of Yalena,

100 Mass. App. Ct. 542, 549 (2021).   Because termination of

parental rights is an "extreme step, . . . it is appropriate for

a judge to consider whether, on the basis of credible evidence,

there is a reasonable likelihood that the parent's unfitness at

the time of trial may be only temporary" (quotations and

citations omitted).   Care & Protection of Zeb, 489 Mass. 783,

788 (2022).   "Because childhood is fleeting, a parent's

unfitness is not temporary if it is reasonably likely to

continue for a prolonged or indeterminate period."   Id., quoting

Adoption of Ilona, 459 Mass. 53, 60 (2011).

    As set forth above, the judge had before him ample clear

and convincing evidence on which to base his finding that the

father was unfit to parent Thelma, and that his unfitness as a

parent was likely to continue.   During the first year of

Thelma's life, the father's visits with her were sporadic.      He

visited with her for five one-hour visits at a DCF office,

missed two scheduled visits, and then stopped visiting.     During

the second year of Thelma's life, the father was incarcerated

and made "minimal effort" to make Thelma a priority.

    The father argues that DCF failed to assist him in

completing the tasks assigned to him, including by providing him

with referrals to programs.   The father focuses on the month

                                 6
immediately before trial, during which the social worker visited

his home, discussed with him the tasks on his action plan, and

offered him referrals, which he declined.   He contends that

because, after that home visit, the social worker was on

vacation when the father left her a voice mail message, that

showed that his failure to complete the action plan tasks was

not his fault.   The judge found that DCF did make referrals.

Beyond that, the evidence of the father's unfitness dated back

to long before that month.    The judge found that the father "did

next to nothing to come forward as a parent," and his efforts to

cooperate with DCF over more than two years were "virtually non-

existent."

    The father also argues that his failure to complete the

action plan tasks was not relevant because they were not

tailored to any clearly identified parenting deficiency of his.

See Adoption of Yale, 65 Mass. App. Ct. 236, 242 (2005).    On the

contrary, those tasks -- including that he complete a parenting

class dealing with child development, engage in therapy, undergo

a substance abuse evaluation, and submit to drug screens -- were

tailored to his deficits as a parent.

    2.   Reasonable efforts.    The father also argues that the

judge should not have found that DCF made reasonable efforts to

restore Thelma to his care.    DCF and Thelma both argue that,

because the father did not raise this claim at trial, he has

                                  7
waived it.    See Adoption of West, 97 Mass. App. Ct. 238, 242

(2020); Adoption of Daisy, 77 Mass. App. Ct. 768, 781 (2010),

S.C., 460 Mass. 72 (2011).     Moreover, as set forth above, the

father's failure for more than two years to make Thelma a

priority in his life severely undermines his attempt to cast

blame on DCF.    Id. at 782.

    3.    Paternal half-sibling visitation.    Finally, the father

argues that the judge should have ordered visitation between the

child and her four paternal half-siblings pursuant to G. L.

c. 119, § 26B (b).     DCF argues that because the father did not

raise this issue at trial, he waived it.      See Adoption of

Gillian, 63 Mass. App. Ct. 398, 408 (2005).     Thelma points out

that because there was no evidence at trial of any sibling

relationship between her and her paternal half-siblings, there

was no basis for the judge to make "a determination of the best

interests of the child" on that issue.    G. L. c. 119, § 26B (b).

We agree.

    We note that the preadoptive mother testified that Thelma

was "very connected to her sisters on her mother's side," with

whom the family visited "frequently," particularly because the

sisters needed support while grieving the recent loss of their

mother.     The judge found that the preadoptive mother "testified,

and the court credits, that the adoptive family has and will

maintain contact between [Thelma] and her siblings."     If they

                                   8
choose to do so, Thelma and her adoptive family may maintain or

develop contact with any of her siblings.     Further, any of the

persons permitted to do so by G. L. c. 119, § 26B (b), may file

a petition for sibling visitation.2    See Care & Protection of

Jamison, 467 Mass. 269, 279-280 (2014).

                                      Decree affirmed.

                                      By the Court (Vuono, Grant &
                                        Walsh, JJ.3),

                                      Clerk

Entered:   March 21, 2023.

2 Because the Juvenile Court has entered a decree dispensing with
the father's consent to adoption of Thelma, he no longer has
standing to seek sibling visitation on behalf of Thelma. See
Adoption of Zander, 83 Mass. App. Ct. 363, 367 n.6 (2013).
3 The panelists are listed in order of seniority.

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