Court Opinion

ID: 7820588
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-07 17:53:10.404243+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:30:43.774783
License: Public Domain

Carleton Harris, Chief Justice, concurring. This case was tried by a chancellor whom I consider to be very conscientious and for whom I have a great deal of respect. Judge Bernice Kizer seems to have given unusual attention to this case, the record reflecting that several hearings were conducted. For instance, on April 6, 1977, a hearing was held and on May 6, 1977, the trial court entered an order appointing appellees (grandparents) as permanent guardians of the person of Sarannah Elizabeth Rains and awarded permanent care, custody and control of this child to the grandparents, after finding that appellant, due to permanent physical handicaps, was not capable of properly caring for the child. On November 2, 1977, another hearing was held upon motion of the trial court itself, and an order was entered on January 3, 1978, directing that temporary custody of the said minor should be placed with the mother, though not dissolving the permanent guardianship which had previously been ordered. Again, on January 26, 1978, the trial court, on its own motion, set another hearing to consider the custody of the child, but because of bad weather this hearing was continued until February 20th, at which time the hearing was had and the trial court found that the mother, who had had the care and custody of Sarannah Elizabeth for approximately 3 1/2 months was not able to reasonably and properly care for the minor, and would not be able to render proper care in the foreseeable future. I mention these matters only to emphasize that Judge Kizer apparently gave the case a great deal of consideration. I was somewhat concerned when this opinion was originally handed down that it might leave the impression that this Court did not feel that appellant should have custody of the child simply because of her blindness. Certainly, this was not my view, nor that of the majority, and I felt that the opinion should go into enough detail of events that occurred when Mrs. Rains had custody of the child to demonstrate that the decision was not based on the physical handicap. I am well aware throughout eight years on the chancery bench and 22 years on this one that there are many persons handicapped by blindness who are thoroughly competent in their work and who are thoroughly competent to rear their children. It must be remembered that the polestar of a custody case is the welfare of the child, and the testimony of Mrs. O. G. Davis, who lived next door to Mrs. Rains in Dallas (and whose testimony has been set out in the majority opinion), persuaded me that Sarannah’s welfare at that time required that custody be placed elsewhere. I do not understand how anyone could feel otherwise when they read the testimony of this lady. It is noticeable to me that Mrs. Rains does not testify that Mrs. Davis was angry with her; that they had had trouble getting along; nor is there any reason cited why this next door neighbor would deliberately prevaricate about conditions that existed. Mainly, appellant testified that the matters mentioned had been corrected. While I have a great admiration for Mrs. Rains’ willingness and ability to work and support herself and her daughter, I cannot feel that her present temperament is conducive to the best welfare of the child. Of course, the court would have preferred not to detail matters which are set out in the majority opinion, but since various organizations interested in the blind, and many other individuals, have felt that the court decision was rendered simply on the basis of Mrs. Rains’ handicap, and that this court was saying that a person, solely because of blindness, was not capable of caring for his or her child, it becomes incumbent that the court make clear the basis for its decision. As pointed out in the majority opinion, the order relating to custody is always subject to modification when circumstances have changed sufficiently to justify reconsideration.