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APPEAL
FROM THE SEBASTIAN COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, FORT SMITH DISTRICT
[NO. 66FJV-17-520], HONORABLE LEIGH ZUERKER, JUDGE
Tina
Bowers Lee, Arkansas Public Defender Commission, for
appellant.
Callie
Corbyn, Office of Chief Counsel, for appellee.
Chrestman
Group, PLLC, by: Keith L. Chrestman, attorney ad litem for
minor children.
OPINION
MEREDITH
B. SWITZER, Judge
Russell Fronterhouse appeals from the March 15, 2019 order
terminating his and Katrina Fronterhouses parental rights to
their four minor children, M.H., Z.F., P.F., and R.F. Katrina
is not a party to this appeal. Russell challenges only the
circuit courts best-interest finding, acknowledging there
was sufficient evidence to support the statutory grounds for
termination. Specifically, he contends "it was error for
the trial court to find that termination was in the best
interest of his children because the trial court failed to
give preferential consideration to placing the children with
their paternal grandmother, who had an approved ICPC
[Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children] home
study." We affirm.
This
matter began as a Family In Need of Services (FINS) case. It
progressed to a dependency-neglect case when Katrina had an
automobile a collision while the children were in the
vehicle, and she tested positive for methamphetamine. Efforts
to test Russell for drugs were unsuccessful. The children
were placed in DHS custody in December 2017 and adjudicated
dependent-neglected on January 24, 2018. The original goal of
the case was reunification. As the case progressed, however,
Katrina continued to have drug issues and Russell was
incarcerated.[1]
On
January 30, 2019, the circuit court entered a
permanency-planning order that changed the goal of the case
to adoption following termination. The order explained that
the underlying hearing had started December 13, 2018, and was
continued to January 24, 2019; that DHS had received the
approved ICPC home study for the paternal
grandparents[2] the week of the December 13 hearing;
that a visit with the grandparents was arranged prior to the
January 24 portion of the hearing; and that "[t]he
permanency planning hearing
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was completed on January 24, 2019 to address the issue of
placement with family in Missouri." The order further
provided that "mindful of the available permanency
planning dispositions and in accordance with the best
interest, health and safety of the juveniles, [the court]
does hereby determine the goal of the case shall be adoption
following termination."
When
the termination hearing began on February 14, 2019, the
children had been out of the parents custody since December
2017. The plan for adoption was to keep all four children
together. They had never lived with the paternal
grandparents, and there was no evidence of a strong
relationship with them. Shortly after the termination hearing
had begun, the circuit court recognized Deeanna Weimar, an
attorney representing the paternal grandmother. The following
colloquy occurred:
[WEIMAR]: Im not a party to this matter at this point but
the paternal grandmother contacted me this morning and she
has requested I do an oral Motion to Intervene. I dont know
if the Court is going to consider it, based on basically an
approved ICPC Home Study that the Department denied without
having a proper hearing as ...