Court Opinion

ID: 9540731
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:19:23.730999+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:00:15.140527
License: Public Domain

BENCH, Judge
(concurring specially):
I concur. I write separately to express my concern over the black letter rule, as stated by the main opinion, that the “State has no duty to offer rehabilitative services to parents in cases of obvious physical abuse, neglect, or abandonment.” I also write separately to observe that subsequent to the facts giving rise to this case, the Legislature changed the law in this area when it enacted the Child Welfare Reform Act. See Utah Code Ann. §§ 62A-4a-101 to -709 (1994).
The main opinion concludes, consistent with case law from this court and the supreme court, that where “obvious physical abuse, neglect, or abandonment” are involved, the State has no duty to try to rehabilitate the offending parent or parents. See J.C.O. v. Anderson, 734 P.2d 458, 463 (Utah 1987); State ex rel. W.D., III v. W.M., 856 P.2d 363, 368 (Utah App.1993); State ex rel. J.R.T. v. Timperly, 750 P.2d 1234, 1237 (Utah App.1988); State ex rel. M.AV. v. Vargas, 736 P.2d 1031, 1034 (Utah App.1987). While we are bound by stare decisis, I am concerned that a rigid application of this rule runs the risk of denying services to parents who might respond positively to such treatment in a manner that would allow the family unit to remain intact.
The State always has a duty to provide treatment to the child in situations involving abuse or neglect. The only question is the extent to which the parent or parents will be involved in the child’s treatment program.
The initiation of any treatment program begins with the presumption that the family unit should be-kept together.
Two principles should guide the courts and the state in making every effort to preserve the family relationship before resorting to [termination of parental rights]. First, there is a strong presumption that, in most instances, children are better off with their natural parents than with a foster or adopted family.... Second, but not unrelated, the Utah Constitution and the United States Constitution “[recognize] and [protect] the inherent right of a parent *550to maintain parental ties to his or her child....” Thus, every reasonable effort should be made to preserve the family unit.
State in Interest of P.H. v. Harrison, 783 P.2d 565, 569 (Utah App.1989) (citations omitted) (emphasis added). Therefore, if a treatment program can reasonably preserve the family unit, I believe the State has a duty to provide such treatment.
This duty should be extinguished not by the type of abuse or neglect involved, but by the destruction of the parent-child relationship and the impossibility of maintaining the family unit as a result of the abuse.
[A]ll too frequently, there come to the state’s attention parents whose own conduct has effectively destroyed the parent-child relationship and the state must remove the child from its environment if it determines that removal would be in the best interests of the child. Moreover, when the relationship has been destroyed, “it is usually in the best interests of the child to terminate that relationship and allow the child an opportunity to establish a meaningful relationship with loving, responsible parents.”
Harrison, 783 P.2d at 569 (quoting In re J.R.T., 750 P.2d 1234, 1238 (Utah App.1988)) (footnote omitted).
In most cases, there will probably be a correlation between (1) the seriousness of the abuse or neglect and (2) the destruction of the parent-child relationship. However, it should be the latter consideration, and not the former, that relieves the State of its duty to include the parent or parents in the child’s treatment program.
In this case, the juvenile court terminated MJ.G.’s parental rights not because of the type of abuse involved, but because her relationship with J.L.W. had been destroyed and reunification was impossible. The juvenile court apparently believed that the State had some duty to provide treatment to M.J.G., but that the treatment was ineffective because of the destruction of the parent-child relationship. The juvenile court found, in pertinent part:
6. That this court has held periodic reviews since 1987 to determine if the child has progressed to a level[] where there could be a reintroduction of the child with the mother. That the child’s condition has improved and regressed over the years as attempts were made to evaluate the child’s progress. This child has not progressed significantly because of her mental and emotional condition to permit any contact.
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8. That the court has found that from 1987 to the filing of the petition to terminate that it would be in the best interest of the child that the child remain in foster care in the home of [her foster parents] where said child has been cared for and dealt with through a variety of crises of both personal problems and aggressive contacts with other children. That the child has not had contact with the mother since approximately June of 1988. That the child has been counseled by several therapists and evaluated by the specialists of the Primary Children’s Hospital. The child was evaluated to be in a fragile mental state which would not permit her to have contact with the mother because of the feared regressive effect the contact would have upon the child.
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10. That her stabilization under the eye of the long-time foster parent has been difficult to attain but that she is presently able to control herself better and has developed her own feelings of self worth and confidence.
11. That the child has a continuing desire to not be reunited with her mother and that she has a desire to be adopted in her present long-term placement. Her needs are for a permanency and conclusion to her legal problems.
12. That the mother loves [J.L.W.] but the court finds she is rejecting the continual evaluations of the child’s fragile mental condition, which condition has stabilized but not progressed sufficiently in the last years.1 She does not understand her *551daughter’s desperate need to not have any contact with her.
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16. The child’s conception of her own best interest over this period of time has not changed as she has an unalterable desire to not return to that place where she was harmed.... She continues to fear and recognize her mother as a source of her instability and past abuse.
(Emphasis added.) The court concluded that the parent-child relationship had been destroyed and that there was no possibility of reuniting M.J.G. and J.L.W. Based on its findings and conclusions, the trial court terminated M.J.G.’s parental rights over J.L.W.
I actually would prefer to follow the approach taken by the juvenile court and to hold that the State’s duty to M.J.G. was extinguished by the destruction of the parent-child relationship. As stated by the main opinion, however, existing case law holds that irrespective of the destruction of the parent-child relationship, M.J.G. was entitled to no opportunity to be reunited with J.L.W. because of the presence of “obvious abuse.”
The Legislature subsequently altered the law in this area when it enacted the Child Welfare Reform Act. See Utah Code Ann. §§ 62A-4a-101 to -709 (1994). Cases arising from facts occurring after the Act may very well be decided differently.
BILLINGS, J., concurs in the concurring opinion of Judge BENCH.

. The trial court incorporated portions of J.L.W.’s psychological evaluations in finding 9: 9. That the child was evaluated by Dr. Kimberly Walsh, a licensed psychologist, of the *551McKay-Dee Institute for Behavioral Medicine. That the same psychologist evaluated the child on August 8 and August 12, 1993, and reviewed prior reports of both evaluators, therapists, and social workers and concluded, as follows:
A. "The results of the psychological evaluation suggests that [J.L.W.] is a very fragile individual. Although she has stabilized now, she appears to have tremendous issues of unresolved anger, sadness, and an underlying thought disorder. Were she forced to resume contact with her biological mother, this fragile sense of psychological equilibrium would be disrupted, and there would likely be a return to the previous pattern of regression and destabilization that occurred when she previously had contacts with her biological family. It is my conclusion that the reason [J.L.W.’s] adjustment is so stable right now, is that she is in a comfortable, familiar, secure, and structured environment in the [foster] home. Were she forced to reestablish contact with her biological family, and the previous issues of her past abuse were reignited, it is likely that this young lady would again regress and revert to bizarre acting-out behavior. I concur with the previous psychological report in her record which terms "a borderline schizophrenic,” in that she does appear to have an underlying psychotic thought process, and the stress of re-contacting her biological family is likely to trigger this, cause her to decompensate psychologically, and would likely precipitate psychiatric hospitalization.”
B. ["] She has stabilized but she is unsure if she has progressed and has the ability to go in and out of stabilization. She has an impairment which because of her anxiety of her mother there exists a risk of her being pushed into psychosis!”]