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APPEAL
FROM THE FAULKNER COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 23JV-17-137],
HONORABLE DAVID M. CLARK, JUDGE
Tina
Bowers Lee, Arkansas Public Defender Commission, for
appellant.
Andrew
Firth, Office of Chief Counsel, for appellee.
Chrestman
Group, PLLC, by: Keith L. Chrestman, attorney ad litem for
minor children.
OPINION
PHILLIP
T. WHITEAKER, Judge
Steven
Burns appeals a Faulkner County Circuit Court order
terminating his parental rights to his twin children, EB and
LB, arguing there was insufficient evidence to support the
circuit courtÂ’s statutory-grounds findings. Because there was
sufficient evidence on which the circuit court could find
that Burns abandoned his children, we affirm.
I.
Factual and Procedural History
Steven
Burns and his ex-wife, Rachel Hendricks, are the parents of
EB and LB. Burns and Hendricks have a history of
dysfunctionality within their home, which has resulted in
their recurring involvement with the Arkansas Department of
Human Services ("the Department"). Even before the
commencement of this case, they had their parental rights
terminated to another child in a separate proceeding in
another county, wherein Burns voluntarily relinquished his
parental rights to that child.[1]
In May
2017, the Department received a failure-to-protect referral,
which alleged that Hendricks and Burns were selling drugs
while their children, EB and LB, were present. At the time of
this referral, the Department already had an open
protective-services case involving EB and LB. The Department
made contact with Hendricks. She denied selling or using
drugs but tested positive for methamphetamine despite her
denial. Hendricks also advised the Department that she and
Burns were divorced, that he no longer lived in the home,
that she had no idea of his current whereabouts, and that he
rarely exercised his visitation although he stayed with them
when he did.
Based
on the foregoing, the Department exercised a seventy-two-hour
hold[2] on the children citing a substantial
risk of harm due to drug use and parental unfitness, and the
court entered an ex parte order for emergency custody. In
that order, the court outlined the parentsÂ’ history with the
Department, including their past drug usage and their
previously documented unwillingness and inability to
cooperate with the Department to correct the issues that
caused removal. Because the same issues were at play here,
...