Court Opinion

ID: 9929424
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-02 16:51:27.280022+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:20:45.291147
License: Public Domain

MAINE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT                                                Reporter of Decisions
Decision: 2024 ME 16
Docket:   And-23-100
Argued:   September 13, 2023
Decided:  January 31, 2024

Panel:       STANFILL, C.J., and MEAD, JABAR, HORTON, CONNORS, LAWRENCE, and DOUGLAS, JJ.

                                IN RE CHILD OF BARNI A.

JABAR, J.

         [¶1] Barni A. appeals from an order of the District Court (Lewiston,

S. Driscoll, J.) terminating her parental rights to her older child. She contends

that the State of Maine’s failure to provide her child with 24/7 private nursing

care that he is legally entitled to receive under Maine’s Medicaid Program,

MaineCare, resulted in the trial court erroneously finding that she is unfit

because she could not address her child’s complicated medical needs.1

         [¶2] Because the trial court’s findings do not address important issues

that must be answered before we can determine whether the record supports

a finding by clear and convincing evidence that the mother is unfit, we vacate

the judgment and remand the matter to the trial court.

   1Briefs of amici curiae were submitted by Disability Rights Maine, the American Civil Liberties
Union, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine; the Maine Parental Rights Attorneys
Association; and the Civil Rights Corps.
2

                                I. BACKGROUND

A.    Procedural History

      [¶3] On July 16, 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services

filed a petition for a child protection order and a request for a preliminary child

protection order as to the child at issue here and the child’s younger brother.

The District Court (Oram, C.J.) granted an order of preliminary child protection

the same day. The petition involved both parents, but the father of the children

died unexpectedly only days later. On July 31, 2019, the court (Martin, J.) held

a summary preliminary hearing at which the mother appeared and waived her

right to a hearing.

      [¶4] Jeopardy was found against the mother as to both children on

October 9, 2019, due to the threat of serious physical harm and deprivation of

adequate care and shelter. The court (Dow, J.) found that the mother had failed

to ensure that she consistently met the children’s medical needs, had not been

able to parent the children in a consistent and predictable manner, and did not

have safe and appropriate housing. The court ordered the mother to, inter alia,

engage in a court ordered diagnostic evaluation (CODE), engage in a mental

health assessment, consistently attend the children’s medical appointments,
                                                                               3

maintain stable housing, and participate actively and consistently in mental

health services.

        [¶5] Following the jeopardy order, the court held regular judicial review

hearings. On June 22, 2021, the court (S. Driscoll, J.) entered a judicial review

and permanency planning order finding that the mother had engaged in the

mental health treatment required by the jeopardy order and had made

progress in her treatment.       The court also found that the mother had

demonstrated, over the course of a trial home placement that had begun in

March 2021, an ability to meet the younger brother’s needs. Based on those

findings, the Department moved to dismiss the younger brother from the child

protection proceeding, and on September 28, 2021, the court granted the

motion. The mother has retained custody of the younger brother since that

time.

        [¶6] A week after the younger brother was dismissed, the Department

filed a petition to terminate the mother’s parental rights as to the older child.

The court held a three-day hearing on the petition that concluded on

February 1, 2023.      On March 1, 2023, the court entered its judgment

terminating the mother’s parental rights to the child. The court found that the

mother is unfit because (1) she is unable to protect the child from jeopardy and
4

these circumstances are unlikely to change within a time reasonably calculated

to meet the child’s needs and (2) she is unable to take responsibility for the

child within a time reasonably calculated to meet the child’s needs. See

22 M.R.S. § 4055(1)(B)(2)(b)(i)-(ii) (2023).2 The court further found that

terminating the mother’s parental rights was in the best interest of the child.

See id. § 4055(1)(B)(2)(a). The mother timely appealed. See M.R. App. P. 2B(c).

B.       Facts

         [¶7] The mother is the biological mother of both children. The older

child was born premature and with a genetic abnormality that causes a range

of medical challenges. Tumors on his brain cause seizures and affect his

executive functioning, vision, and visual processing. The tumors will likely

grow and change over time and, if they grow aggressively, could become

malignant or impact brain function. The child is predisposed to neurological,

cognitive, kidney, feeding, skin, and breathing issues, as well as learning and

intellectual disabilities. He is unable to chew or swallow due to impaired

neurological functioning.             His food must be mixed and administered in

measured doses through a gastronomy tube (g-tube) into his stomach, after

     Under 22 M.R.S. § 4055(1)(B)(2)(b), a court may find that a parent is unfit when the parent is
     2

either unable or unwilling to eliminate jeopardy or to take responsibility for the child. Here, the court
expressly found that the mother is unfit based on her lack of ability and not on her lack of will.
                                                                                5

which he must be vented, a process that manipulates his stomach to push up

air to minimize painful abdominal distension and vomiting. The child receives

numerous medications through both the g-tube and, at times, a nebulizer. He

receives speech, occupational, and physical therapy to assist with sitting,

standing, and muscle development.

      [¶8] To manage his condition, the child has a cohort of care providers,

including a neurologist; a primary care physician; a nutritionist; a nephrologist;

a pulmonologist; a urologist; an oncologist; an ear, nose, and throat specialist;

a gastroenterologist; an eye specialist; an occupational therapist; a physical

therapist; a speech therapist; a teacher for the visually impaired; and a

developmental pediatrician. The child has significant long-term medical needs,

and it is not known whether his condition will improve or worsen over time.

      [¶9] Although his condition is not acutely life threatening, the child must

be monitored constantly and vigilantly for behavioral cues due to his inability

to communicate verbally, lest otherwise-treatable issues be missed. He must

be surveilled for subtle seizure activity, visual disturbances, twitching,

urination and defecation, changes in breathing, and changes to his skin—all

symptoms that could necessitate medical attention.
6

      [¶10]    According to his many caregivers, the child qualifies for

24/7 private nursing care under Maine’s Medicaid program, MaineCare. See

22 M.R.S. §§ 3172-3196 (2023); 10-144 C.M.R. ch. 101, ch. II §§ 94 (effective

May 1, 2010); 10-144 C.M.R. ch. 101, ch. II § 96 (effective Feb. 11, 2019);

42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1396 to 1396w-7 (Westlaw through Pub. L. No. 118-30). He

receives skilled nursing care in his resource home only on weekdays and never

overnight. He has never received the 24/7 private nursing care that he legally

qualifies for, either in the resource home or in the mother’s home.

      [¶11] The mother has made great progress since the commencement of

this child protection proceeding and has alleviated the jeopardy caused by her

housing and mental health issues to such an extent that she successfully

reunified with the child’s younger brother.

      [¶12] Under the care of his resource family, the child has progressed.

The resource mother has provided him extraordinary care. She is extremely

knowledgeable about his condition, capably coordinates his care and providers,

and can provide emergency response including transportation. The resource

family can also care for and attend to the child at all hours. The child has been

in this placement for most of his life, and he has bonded with his resource

family.
                                                                                7

                                II. DISCUSSION

A.    Legal Standard

      [¶13] “To terminate parental rights, a trial court must first find one of

the four statutory bases of parental unfitness in 22 M.R.S. § 4055(1)(B)(2)(b),

and then it must consider the best interest of the child.” In re Child of

Christine M., 2018 ME 133, ¶ 6, 194 A.3d 390. Unfitness may be based on any

one of the following:

      (i)    The parent is unwilling or unable to protect the child from
             jeopardy and these circumstances are unlikely to change
             within a time which is reasonably calculated to meet the
             child’s needs;

      (ii)   The parent has been unwilling or unable to take
             responsibility for the child within a time which is reasonably
             calculated to meet the child’s needs;

      (iii) The child has been abandoned; or

      (iv)   The parent has failed to make a good faith effort to
             rehabilitate and reunify with the child pursuant to section
             4041.

22 M.R.S. § 4055(1)(B)(2)(b).      Unless the court first finds by clear and

convincing evidence that the parent is unfit, it cannot reach the issue of whether

termination of parental rights is in the child’s best interest. See Adoption by

Stefan S., 2020 ME 5, ¶ 8, 223 A.3d 468.
8

      [¶14] We review a court’s factual findings of parental unfitness and best

interest of the child for clear error and its ultimate decision on termination for

an abuse of discretion. Id. ¶ 10. “When the burden of proof at trial is clear and

convincing evidence, our review is to determine whether the fact-finder could

reasonably have been persuaded that the required findings were proved to be

highly probable.” Id. (quotation marks omitted).

      [¶15] On appeal, the mother and amici contend that we must examine

this case in the context of the mother’s constitutional right to provide for her

child. See generally Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745 (1982). They urge us to

go beyond the clear-and-convincing-evidence standard and determine whether

termination of the mother’s parental rights, based on a finding that she is unfit

due to her inability to resolve jeopardy and take responsibility for the child and

his complicated medical needs, was the least restrictive means to achieve a

compelling government interest, see Hiller v. Fausey, 904 A.2d 875, 885-86

(Pa. 2006), given that the State has failed to provide 24/7 private nursing care

to the child that could enable the mother to care for him.

      [¶16] We agree that we must review this case with regard to the mother’s

constitutional right to parent her child. We note, however, that Maine’s statute
                                                                                  9

regarding the termination of parental rights presently contains sufficient

safeguards to protect a parent’s constitutional rights. We have stated that

      [t]he Supreme Court of the United States has concluded that
      requiring proof by clear and convincing evidence in termination of
      parental rights proceedings satisfies the Constitution because it
      “adequately conveys to the factfinder the level of subjective
      certainty about [the] factual conclusions necessary to satisfy due
      process.”

In re Child of Shayla S., 2019 ME 68, ¶ 7, 207 A.3d 1207 (second alteration in

original) (quoting Santosky, 455 U.S. at 769). We have repeatedly asserted that

the standard of proof of clear and convincing evidence is constitutionally

sufficient in termination of parental rights cases. E.g., In re Crystal S., 483 A.2d

1210, 1213 (Me. 1984); Guardianship of Chamberlain, 2015 ME 76, ¶ 23, 118

A.3d 229. We therefore review the trial court’s judgment to determine whether

clear and convincing evidence supports the court’s finding that the mother is

unfit and its decision to terminate the parental rights of the mother.

B.    Parental Unfitness

      [¶17] The trial court found the mother unfit under two statutory criteria:

inability to protect the child from jeopardy and inability to take responsibility

for the child in a time reasonably calculated to meet the child’s needs. 22 M.R.S.

§ 4055(1)(B)(2)(b)(i)-(ii). These findings were based on the trial court’s

observations that the mother “is unable to consistently meet [the child’s]
10

heightened medical needs” and “has not yet demonstrated an ability to care for

[him] full time in her home even with the available nursing assistance.”

      [¶18] The mother now challenges the trial court’s conclusion that,

because she is unable to address the child’s complicated medical problems

without assistance, she is an unfit parent for him. She contends that if the State

provided the nursing care and other services that she and the child are legally

entitled to receive, she would be able to meet his medical needs. The mother

asserts that because the unavailability of adequate private nursing care and her

inability to care for the child on her own were the primary reasons for the

court’s unfitness finding, the court erred when it concluded by clear and

convincing evidence that she is unfit under 22 M.R.S. § 4055(1)(B)(2)(b)(i)-(ii).

      [¶19] We agree. The child has severe medical needs that entitle him to

full-time private nursing care under federal and state law. The Department

never provided that care, and its reunification and rehabilitation plan did not

afford the mother any opportunity to demonstrate that, with the medical

services the child is entitled to receive, she is able to care for the child. Absent

evidence that the mother—not on her own but with the benefit of 24/7 private

nursing care—is unable to alleviate jeopardy or take responsibility for the

child, the record was not sufficient to find by clear and convincing evidence that
                                                                            11

the mother is unfit. Furthermore, although the court noted that the mother’s

personal challenges impeded reunification, her significant progress dealing

with those challenges throughout this child protection proceeding undermines

the court’s unfitness finding.

      1.    Full-Time Nursing Care and Reunification Efforts

      [¶20] We have held that the extraordinary medical needs of a child,

coupled with a parent’s failure to meet those needs, is sufficient to support a

finding that the parent is unable to protect the child from jeopardy or take

responsibility for the child within a time reasonably calculated to meet the

child’s needs. See In re Jesse B., 2017 ME 90, ¶¶ 3-5, 10, 160 A.3d 1187; In re

A.H., 2013 ME 85, ¶¶ 2-7, 15, 77 A.3d 1012. In In re Jesse B., we affirmed the

termination of the parents’ parental rights where the child had substantial

medical needs and the parents failed to engage in services that would allow

them to meet their child’s needs. 2017 ME 90, ¶¶ 3-5, 10, 160 A.3d 1187. Also,

in In re A.H., we held that, “[g]iven the evidence that the[] parents, however

loving, [would] never have the capacity to adequately care for th[e] child with

her significant medical needs, the court could reasonably have been persuaded

that it was highly probable that the parents were unable to protect the child

from jeopardy to her health or welfare and were unable to take responsibility
12

for her within a time reasonably calculated to meet her needs.” 2013 ME 85,

¶ 15, 77 A.3d 1012.

         [¶21] Those cases do not compel terminating the mother’s parental

rights here. Unlike the present matter, neither case involved a situation in

which the child was legally entitled to 24/7 private nursing services to manage

his medical needs and the State failed to facilitate that care. The case before us

is unique because the child qualifies for around-the-clock private nursing care

under the federal Medicaid Act and MaineCare.                                    See 42 U.S.C.A.

§§ 1396 to 1396w-7; 22 M.R.S. §§ 3172-3196; 10-144 C.M.R. ch. 101, ch. II §§ 94

(effective May 1, 2010); 10-144 C.M.R. ch. 101, ch. II, § 96 (effective Feb. 11,

2019). Medicaid requires states to promptly provide or arrange for treatment

necessary to correct or ameliorate a medical condition once screening and

assessment have occurred and the child’s medically necessary services have

been identified.3 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1396a(a)(10)(A), (43)(C), 1396d(a)(4)(B), (8),

     Although the federal Medicaid Act often requires states only to pay for medical services, when
     3

the Act was amended in 2010, states became responsible for providing the services themselves in
some instances. O.B. v. Norwood, 838 F.3d 837, 843 (7th Cir. 2016) (“[W]here the Medicaid Act refers
to the provision of services, a participating State is required to provide (or ensure the provision of)
services, not merely to pay for them.” (quotation marks omitted)); Patient Protection & Affordable
Care Act, Pub. L. No. 111-148, § 2304, 124 Stat. 119, 296 (2010). The Seventh and the Ninth Circuit
Courts of Appeals have held that the obligation to provide, or arrange for the provision of, medical
services extends to private duty nursing services for children under the early and periodic screening,
diagnostic, and treatment provisions of the Medicaid Act. O.B., 838 F.3d at 841-43 (holding that state
was required to arrange for provision of home nursing services for qualified children when state
                                                                                                      13

(r)(5). These services include private-duty nursing services. Id. § 1396d(a)(8);

supra n.3. Under MaineCare, the child is eligible for Level IV Private Duty

Nursing, which includes residential care. 10-144 C.M.R. ch. 101 § 96.01-3,

96.02-4(D) (effective Feb. 11, 2019).4

        [¶22]      The Department, which administers MaineCare, has never

provided the child with this level of care.5 The record contains vague references

to nursing shortages and problems surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, but

there is nothing indicating that the Department made any attempt to secure

24/7 nursing care, or anything close to it, for the child. Nor did the mother’s

failed to argue that nursing shortage may interfere with Medicaid obligations); Katie A. ex rel. Ludin
v. Los Angeles Cnty., 481 F.3d 1150, 1154 (9th Cir. 2007); 42 U.S.C.A. § 1396d(r)(5).

   Even if the Department here is required only to provide reimbursement for the child’s necessary
medical services, it is still the Department that sets the rates that directly impact service capacity,
and it is still the Department that manages the system and arranges the provision of these services
by other entities. The record does not address the Department’s unique role to provide reunification
services under the child protection statute on one hand and its role as the gatekeeper of Title 42
benefits to provide services to qualified individuals on the other.
   4 Alternatively, the child is eligible for all medically necessary treatment services covered by 42

U.S.C. § 1396(a) and (r) under the early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment regulations
of MaineCare. 10-144 C.M.R. § 94.02, 94.05-2 (effective May 1, 2010).
   5   Relatedly, the U.S. Department of Justice has documented in detail the Department’s failure to
provide sufficient community-based services to children with long-term behavioral and
developmental disabilities. See Letter from Kristen Clarke, Assistant Att’y Gen., C.R. Div., U.S. Dep’t of
Just., to Gov. Janet Mills & Att’y Gen. Aaron Frey (June 22, 2022), https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-
release/file/1514326/download [https://perma.cc/9AGG-LDXE]. This failure violates Subpart A of
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits states from discriminating based on
disability. See id.; 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 12131-12134 (Westlaw through Pub. L. No. 118-30); Olmstead v. L.C.
ex rel. Zimring, 527 U.S. 581, 597 (1999).
14

attorney or the guardian ad litem (GAL) seek to compel the provision of

adequate care. Rather, the most the child received was sixty hours per week of

nursing care, provided only on weekdays. Because of this failure, the mother

has never been afforded the assistance necessary to care for her child.

         [¶23]   Moreover, the Department’s reunification and rehabilitation

efforts failed to adequately address the child’s medical needs and provide the

services that would create any possibility of the mother reunifying with the

child.    In a child protection proceeding, the Department must develop a

reunification plan that includes “changes . . . necessary to eliminate jeopardy to

the child while in the care of a parent” and must “[m]ake good faith efforts to

cooperate with the parent in the pursuit of the plan.”                 22 M.R.S.

§ 4041(1-A)(A)(1)(c)(ii), (3) (2023). “The rehabilitation and reunification plan

is the roadmap by which the Department and a parent are expected to

cooperatively seek to rehabilitate the conditions that resulted in jeopardy to

the child.” In re Child of Rebecca J., 2019 ME 119, ¶ 6, 213 A.3d 108 (quotation

marks omitted). The Department and the parent share the obligation to

reunify. In re Thomas D., 2004 ME 104, ¶ 23, 854 A.2d 195.

         [¶24] Although the Department filed rehabilitation and reunification

plans pursuant to section 4041(1-A), the plans failed to afford the mother
                                                                                15

opportunities for home visits with sufficient nursing care or resources in place

to assist her in alleviating jeopardy.

      [¶25]    After the jeopardy order was entered and the Department

prepared its first reunification plan in March 2020, the court held regular

judicial review hearings addressing reunification efforts, but the mother’s

visitation time with the child was substantially limited throughout the case.

A judicial review order dated June 22, 2021, indicated that visits between the

mother and her child had been suspended prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,

because of the mother’s difficulty early in the proceeding meeting the child’s

needs, and were never restarted because of the pandemic. Then, a judicial

review order dated October 28, 2021—after the Department filed the petition

to terminate the mother’s parental rights—indicated that although supervised

visits between the mother and child had resumed on June 25, 2021, they were

again suspended only a month later due to a lack of nursing staff. A judicial

review order dated March 17, 2022, indicated that there was “inconsistency in

visitation due to the lack of available nursing staff.” And a judicial review order

dated August 11, 2022, again indicated that between late March 2020 and

May 2022, a period of over two years, visitation between the mother and the

child had been limited due to lack of available nursing staff. The Department’s
16

second reunification plan, filed on September 8, 2022, stated that supervised

visitation was occurring only on Monday afternoons and Thursday mornings

for one and a half hours each.

      [¶26] Since the child has been in the custody of the resource parents and

visitation was severely curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the mother

has never had the opportunity to demonstrate her ability to care for the child

with increased nursing care. The GAL testified that she has never observed the

child with the mother in the mother’s home, therefore precluding any

opportunity to comment on the mother’s ability to care for the child, with or

without the requisite nursing care. And, as noted above, although the child

qualifies for full-time nursing care, the most he ever received was sixty hours

per week on weekdays.

      [¶27] The September 8, 2022, reunification plan indicated that the

mother “would most likely require full-time or nearly full-time support to

provide adequate, safe care-taking to [the child].” But the plan failed to mention

that the child legally qualifies for 24/7 nursing care under MaineCare. Further,

in discussing how to measure the mother’s progress toward eliminating

jeopardy, the plan indicated that reunification would “include an ability [for the

mother] to care for [her child] by herself and recognize when and with whom
                                                                                                   17

to seek professional medical care.” In light of the medical needs of the child that

are part of the record, the Department’s benchmark of “an ability [for the

mother] to care for [her child] by herself” was virtually impossible for the

mother to meet.6

       [¶28]       It was repeatedly stated throughout the child protection

proceeding that, although the child was entitled to 24/7 private nursing care,

there were inadequate resources to meet his needs. Inadequate resources do

not excuse a state’s obligation to provide benefits under Medicaid. See, e.g., Ala.

Nursing Home Ass’n v. Harris, 617 F.2d 388, 396 (5th Cir. 1980) (holding that

state health department’s failure to obtain sufficient funds to cover Medicaid

expenditures did not preclude eligible providers from receiving reasonable

cost reimbursement); Doe v. Chiles, 136 F.3d 709, 721-722 (11th Cir. 1998).

       [¶29] In this case, there is nothing on the record explaining why there

were inadequate resources for this child, nor is there evidence of any advocacy

on behalf of the child or the mother by the Department, the GAL, or the mother’s

   6 The September 8, 2022, reunification plan, filed only three months before the scheduled hearing

on the Department’s petition for termination of parental rights, was totally unrealistic given the
child’s extensive medical needs and was not a good faith effort to effectuate reunification. See
22 M.R.S. § 4041(1-A)(A) (2023). We acknowledge, however, that the mother has not challenged the
sufficiency of the Department’s reunification efforts. Nonetheless, whether the record contains
sufficient evidence to find that the mother is unfit to care for her medically needy child is squarely
before us, and that question requires us to determine whether the mother was afforded adequate
opportunities under appropriate circumstances to demonstrate her ability to care for her child.
18

attorney. In its pursuit of reunification, the Department never provided the

child with the services that he is entitled to receive, even though sufficient

nursing care for the child may have enabled the mother to eliminate jeopardy

and take responsibility for him.

      [¶30] The trial court concluded that the mother’s inability to meet the

child’s significant medical needs was why she had not alleviated jeopardy, and

that, although she had made progress in developing the skills necessary to care

for the child, she had not demonstrated the ability to do so full-time with the

available nursing assistance. The trial court did not, however, make any

findings as to whether she would have been able to alleviate jeopardy had the

Department met its obligation under federal and state law to provide the

full-time medical care to which the child is entitled. In contrast to our prior

caselaw concerning the termination of parental rights of parents with medically

compromised children, the trial court’s findings in this case indicate that it was

the mother’s inability, without legally mandated assistance, to provide the

necessary medical care for her child’s complicated health problems that led to

the trial court’s conclusion that she is unfit.

      [¶31] The mother’s inability to care for the child full-time with the

assistance presently available may not be a problem if the mother is provided
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the nursing care her child is legally entitled to receive. The court did not

address the mother’s fitness if the requisite nursing care were available. The

need for her to acquire the skills necessary to care for the child would have been

greatly diminished had she had the nursing support to which the child was

legally entitled. Furthermore, the record clearly shows that the mother was not

afforded a realistic opportunity to meet the child’s medical needs because the

mother’s visits with the child were severely limited due to the COVID-19

pandemic and lack of nursing resources. Therefore, we cannot conclude on this

record that a reasonable fact finder could be persuaded that it was highly

probable that the mother is unfit.

      2.      Mother’s Personal Challenges

      [¶32]    The evidence presented at the termination hearing further

demonstrates that the unfitness finding was based only on the mother’s

difficulty managing the child’s complex medical condition and that, in all other

respects, the mother made significant progress following the initial jeopardy

determination.    The trial court found that the mother’s own behavioral

challenges and difficulties learning how to administer the child’s medical care

“impede her ability to work with the constellation of providers who must rely

on [the child’s] primary caregiver to monitor and report symptoms and seek
20

appropriate care, including emergency care if necessary.” The court also found

that the mother’s intellectual and mental health challenges have “impeded her

progress towards reunification.”

      [¶33] The evidence does not support this finding by clear and convincing

evidence. The mother has made significant progress in dealing with her

behavioral challenges and, because of the limited, understaffed visitation time

she was afforded, she never had the opportunity to demonstrate that she had

resolved any personal impediments to her ability to care for the child.

      [¶34] A Department caseworker acknowledged that the mother had

alleviated many of the original bases for jeopardy and had done everything that

the Department had asked her to do in pursuit of reunification. The caseworker

testified that the only remaining basis for jeopardy was the inability to meet the

child’s medical needs. Moreover, in her reports, the GAL focused on the child’s

medical needs, stating that there were “significant concerns about [the

mother’s] ability to manage his fragile medical condition” and that the mother

“has not demonstrated the ability to effectively care for her significant

medically compromised child.” This opinion by the GAL was given even though

she never observed the mother and child together at the mother’s home.
                                                                                                  21

       [¶35] One of the child’s nurses testified that the mother is “very attentive

to [the child], very loving, and tries to be interactive with him” as much as

possible. A nurse who attended visits between the mother and the child

testified that, after training, the mother was able to independently feed the

child and mix and administer his medications. It is clear that the mother made

progress despite the limited number of visitations with the child and a nurse.

       [¶36] A licensed clinical professional counselor who began counseling

the mother nearly three years prior to the termination hearing acknowledged

that any parent would be overwhelmed by the situation the mother faced—a

sick child, the death of her husband, and an ongoing pandemic crisis—and that

because of those circumstances the mother never had a full opportunity to learn

the child’s medical needs and meet them. He believed that the mother was

doing well and testified that he had seen a significant improvement in her

behavior over time. He commented on the mother’s February 2020 CODE

evaluation, which indicated that the mother had some intellectual difficulties.

He stated that during the two years and nine months that he counselled her

following the CODE evaluation he did not see any actual intellectual disability.7

   7 The CODE evaluation raised the question of whether the mother is disabled and entitled to
receive resources to assist her in caring for her child. The CODE report flagged concerns about the
mother’s cognitive function and raised a possible diagnosis of intellectual disability. Despite these
22

       [¶37]      The counselor’s observation that the mother’s behavior had

improved since the removal of her children and death of her husband is

consistent with the Department’s observations as the proceedings progressed.

The Department acknowledged in its September 2022 reunification plan that

the mother had secured stable housing with space for both of her children and

the medical equipment for the older child, expanded her network of support for

transportation to appointments and visitations, attended every visitation and

appointment after they resumed in May 2022, and “put[] forth full effort to

learn how to care for” the child and “maintain[] her personal health.” Most

significantly, the Department believed that the mother had alleviated any

jeopardy regarding the child’s younger brother and withdrew its petition to

terminate the mother’s parental rights regarding him.

       [¶38] It is clear that the court’s conclusion regarding the mother’s

unfitness focused on the mother’s inability to deal with her child’s complicated

results, the Department never followed up to determine whether the mother has an intellectual
disability. Had the Department inquired further and obtained a diagnosis of intellectual disability,
the Department might have owed obligations not only to provide medical services to the child, supra
§§ 20-31, but also to provide services to the mother to manage the child’s needs in pursuit of
rehabilitation and reunification. See 22 M.R.S. § 4041(1-A)(A)(1)(c)(iv). So, regardless of whether
the mother has an intellectual disability, the record does not support the unfitness finding. On one
hand, if the mother has an intellectual disability, the Department did not meet its reunification
obligation to provide rehabilitative services that would have allowed the mother to care for the child.
On the other hand, if the mother does not have an intellectual disability, the Department still failed
to provide sufficient opportunities after the mother had made progress in her personal challenges to
determine whether she is an unfit parent when the services that the child needs are in place.
                                                                            23

medical condition on her own. Given the mother’s significant progress in

overcoming her personal challenges, and the fact that the mother was

permitted only limited opportunities to demonstrate her ability to care for the

child with adequate nursing care in place after making that progress, we

question whether the court’s finding of unfitness meets the “clear and

convincing” standard.

      [¶39] We must review this case within the constitutional framework

imposing a heightened burden to prove parental unfitness by clear and

convincing evidence. To conclude that the record establishes a high probability

that the mother is unable to take responsibility for her child or alleviate

jeopardy because she cannot manage the child’s extraordinary medical needs

without support, when the Department has a legal duty to provide that support,

would undermine the mother’s fundamental constitutional right to the care,

custody, and control of her child and render meaningless the procedural

safeguards, including the heightened evidentiary burden, erected to protect

that interest. See generally In re Guardianship of Chamberlain, 2015 ME 76,

¶¶ 20-24, 118 A.3d 229 (noting the constitutional significance of the

heightened standard of proof required to terminate parental rights); 22 M.R.S.

§ 4041 (imposing reunification duties upon both the Department and the
24

parent); 22 M.R.S. § 4005 (2023) (providing a right to legal representation in

proceedings for termination of parental rights); 22 M.R.S. § 4038(1) (2023)

(mandating judicial review of jeopardy findings).

      [¶40] The Department should have offered 24/7 skilled nursing care for

the child as part of its reunification plan, and its failure to do so is a violation of

its reunification responsibility as well as its MaineCare obligation. See 22 M.R.S.

§ 4041(1-A). The Department’s “rehabilitation and reunification plan is the

centerpiece    of   child    protective    proceedings     following    a    jeopardy

determination.” In re Thomas D., 2004 ME 104, ¶ 26, 854 A.2d 195. Although

the Department’s failure to “provide adequate rehabilitation and reunification

services” or “complete a rehabilitation and reunification plan” is not alone a

“basis to deny a petition to terminate parental rights,” it is an “important factor

that must be carefully evaluated” when determining parental unfitness based

on a parent’s failure to achieve benchmarks for reunification set by the

Department. Id ¶ 28. Even if the Department has failed to meet its reunification

responsibility, a parent may still be deemed unfit. See In re Doris G., 2006 ME

142, ¶¶ 15-16, 912 A.2d 572.

      [¶41] But this case is different. We cannot assume that the mother would

have been found unfit if the Department had met its legal obligations. The
                                                                              25

significance of the Department’s failure to provide the services that the child

needs is elevated by the fact that the services are mandated by law. In fact, the

record demonstrates that the Department’s failure to meet its MaineCare

obligations actually impeded the mother’s visitations for extensive periods of

time.

        [¶42] The record does not, in the absence of a finding that the mother

would be unfit even if the Department had met its legal duty, establish by clear

and convincing evidence that the mother is unfit.

C.      Best Interest of the Child

        [¶43] Because we cannot conclude that there was sufficient evidence in

the record to find the mother unfit by clear and convincing evidence, we do not

reach the issue of whether termination of the mother’s parental rights was in

the child’s best interest. Nonetheless, we take the opportunity to reiterate the

trial court’s alternatives when conducting a best interest analysis.

        [¶44] Although not before us, it is important to note that in determining

the best interest of the child and providing permanency for the child,

termination of parental rights and adoption is not the only alternative. As we

recently stated,

        [t]he Legislature has provided five different permanency options
        including adoption and permanency guardianship. A permanency
26

      guardianship may be ordered to establish safe, long-term care for
      a child, but it is not appropriate when the child needs the certainty
      and stability of adoption and the parties otherwise need clarity in
      their respective roles.          Unlike adoption, a permanency
      guardianship allows for a court to order that a parent have
      reasonable contact with the child where it is in the best interest[]
      of the child. If a trial court finds that a child needs permanency,
      then the trial court should not automatically conclude that
      terminating the parents’ parental rights and adoption is the best
      way to effectuate permanency. The Legislature has determined
      that both adoption and permanency guardianships are equally
      available to further the goal of permanency for children, and courts
      should consider the particularities of what kind of permanency and
      stability a child needs before determining that adoption, rather
      than one of the other equally available options, is the best course.
      A finding that a child needs permanency cannot, without more, be
      enough to conclude that termination is in the best interest of the
      child because this would never allow a court to conclude that any
      other permanency option, including a permanency guardianship,
      would be in the best interest of the child.

      ....

             In sum, to ensure that terminating a parent’s parental rights
      is in the best interest of the child, there must be some reason
      besides a general need for permanency that adoption is the best
      permanency option for that child. The risk of a generalized finding
      that permanency always requires adoption, and therefore
      termination of a parent’s parental rights, is that a court might
      terminate a parent’s parental rights when it is not in the best
      interest of a child and another, better permanency option exists.

In re Children of Quincy A., 2023 ME 49, ¶¶ 22, 24, 300 A.3d 832 (cleaned up).

      [¶45] The caseworker for the Department testified that she considered

a permanency guardianship, but there is nothing in the record regarding any
                                                                               27

follow up or advocacy for this option by the Department, the GAL, or the

mother’s attorney. Permanency guardianship in this case might have been a

viable option and in the best interest of the child, without the need to terminate

the mother’s parental rights.

      [¶46] The trial court found that it was in the child’s best interest to

remain with the resource family and that the child needed permanency and

concluded that the permanency plan should be adoption. In this case, the

mother’s attorney did not appeal the trial court’s conclusion regarding the

child’s best interest, nor did the mother’s attorney file a motion for further

findings on the issue of permanency, and therefore the issue of the best

permanency plan for the child is not before us. See M.R. Civ. P. 52(b); cf. In re

Children of Quincy A., 2023 ME 49, ¶ 26, 300 A.3d 832. Still, because we vacate

the judgment and remand the matter to the trial court, we note that a

permanency guardianship may be an appropriate permanency plan under

these circumstances.

                                III. CONCLUSION

      [¶47] We fully recognize that vacating the termination judgment does

nothing by itself to rectify the Department’s failure to fulfill its obligation to

provide services, so we encourage the court, the mother, and the Department
28

to explore alternatives to termination that do not put the child at risk but that

recognize the Department’s obligation.

      [¶48] We remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings to

consider the following: (1) whether the mother has an intellectual disability

and, if she does, how it bears on both parental fitness and the Department’s

reunification obligation; (2) whether the mother is, or would be, unfit

regardless of the Department’s failure to meet its MaineCare obligation

regarding skilled nursing care; and (3) whether there is an alternative to

termination of the mother’s parental rights that meets the best interest of the

child. On remand, the District Court may take further evidence.

      The entry is:

                  Judgment vacated. Remanded to the District
                  Court for further proceedings consistent with
                  this opinion.

Rory A. McNamara, Esq. (orally), Drake Law LLC, York, for appellant mother

Aaron M. Frey, Attorney General, and Hunter C. Umphrey, Asst. Atty. Gen.
(orally), Office of the Attorney General, Bangor, for appellee Department of
Health and Human Services

Jeremy Pratt, Esq., Pratt & Simmons, P.A., Camden, and Sumayya Saleh, Esq.,
Civil Rights Corps, Washington D.C., for amicus curiae Civil Rights Corps
                                                                               29

Julian Richter, Esq., Bath, for amicus curiae Maine Parental Rights Attorneys
Association

Lauren Wille, Esq., Disability Rights Maine, Augusta, for amicus curiae Disability
Rights Maine

Carol Garvan, Esq., and Zachary L. Heiden, Esq., American Civil Liberties Union
of Maine Foundation, Portland, and Zoe Brennan-Krohn, Esq., American Civil
Liberties Union Foundation, San Francisco, California, for amici curiae
American Civil Liberties Union and American Civil Liberties Union of Maine

Lewiston District Court docket number PC-2019-76
FOR CLERK REFERENCE ONLY