APPEAL
FROM THE JEFFERSON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 35JV-19-14]
HONORABLE EARNEST E. BROWN, JR., JUDGE.
Tabitha McNulty, Arkansas Commission for Parent Counsel, for
appellant.
Ellen
K. Howard, Office of Chief Counsel, for appellee.
Chrestman Group, PLLC, by: Keith L. Chrestman, attorney ad
litem for minor children.
MIKE
MURPHY, JUDGE.
Appellant
Pamela Mixon appeals from the April 15, 2019 order of the
Jefferson County Circuit Court granting permanent custody of
four of her six children to their fathers and closing the
case as it related to those children. She now asserts that
the court erred in granting permanent custody to the
children's fathers because she did not receive notice
that permanent custody would be considered at the hearing,
and she argues that the court's custody order was not in
the children's best interest. We affirm.
On
January 8, 2019, the Arkansas Department of Human Services
(the Department) exercised an emergency hold on M.M. (born
3/16/2015) and filed a petition for emergency custody and
dependency-neglect three days later. The Department initiated
an investigation into the welfare of Mixon's children
after Mixon was found "passed out" in a car in the
Department's parking lot for over three hours with
three-year-old M.M. confined to the car; M.M was covered in
sweat and was crying loudly. Mixon agreed to a drug test that
day, and she tested positive for illegal substances. The
petition alleged that in addition to M.M., Mixon is the
mother of K.B. (born 2/08/2002), Q.B. (born 6/14/2003), K.H.
(born 11/09/2004), J.H. (born 5/30/2006), and J.C. (born
9/08/2009). Mixon had legal custody of these children, but
they had been in the physical custody of the following
individuals for over six months: J.H. and K.H. with their
legal father, Komie Henderson (Henderson); K.B. and Q.B. with
their legal father, Quentin Battles (Battles); and J.C. with
his paternal grandmother, Carrie Coleman. The petition also
alleged this was not the first contact that the Department
has had with Mixon and her children. A
child-protective-services case was open from June 4, 2015, to
January 20, 2016; however, Mixon did not complete the offered
services-including drug assessments, housing, drug screens,
home visits, substance-abuse treatment, and employment
services-because she withdrew the children from school and
moved, and the Arkansas Department of Child and Family
Services could not locate her.
The
circuit court entered an ex parte order of emergency custody
on January 11. The order placed custody of M.M. with the
Department and restricted Mixon from removing her children
from the homes where they were living. On January 17, the
circuit court held a probable-cause hearing, and it found
that probable cause existed for M.M. to remain in the
Department's custody, and it continued to forbid Mixon
from removing the other children from their placements.
Additionally, the circuit court ordered that Mixon be
referred for the court's "Family Treatment Drug
Court."
On
February 13, the Department filed a motion to terminate
reunification services as to all her children except the
child it had removed, M.M. The motion alleged that because
the children had not lived with Mixon for an extended period,
it would be detrimental to their health, safety, and
well-being to attempt reunification. Thus, it requested that
the circuit court change the goals for those children to
relative placement.
The
court conducted the adjudication hearing the next day, found
the allegations in the petition to be true, and adjudicated
the children dependent-neglected. Additionally, the circuit
court found Battles to be the legal father of Q.B. and K.B.;
Henderson to be the legal father of K.H. and J.H.; Justin
Coleman to be the legal father of J.C.; and Myron Johnson to
be the legal father of M.M. The circuit court further found
that none of the legal fathers had contributed to the
dependency-neglect of the children, set the goal of the case
as reunification, and ordered all parents to comply with the
case plan and court orders.
On
February 21, the circuit court held a Family Treatment Drug
Court hearing wherein it reviewed the case and ordered a goal
of reunification with a fit parent. At this hearing, two
positive drug screens were admitted into evidence, one from
that day and one from the January 17 hearing. Due to
Mixon's positive drug screens, the circuit court ordered
that she submit to another drug screen before she left court
that day; however, Mixon left the courthouse before the
Department could obtain the court-ordered drug screen.
On
March 14, the circuit court held another Family Treatment
Drug Court hearing. Lorie Hutto, the family service worker
assigned to the case, and Audrey Martin, the family service
worker supervisor, both testified generally to Mixon's
current status. However, both confirmed there was a delay in
providing Mixon the drug-and-alcohol assessment due to the
Department's changing its service provider, so there had
not been much progress in the case. Following the testimony,
the circuit court placed M.M. in the temporary custody of her
father, Myron Johnson.
Immediately
following this hearing, the circuit court conducted a hearing
on the Department's motion for no-reunification services.
Martin testified that all the children besides M.M. had been
in their current placements for at least six months. Martin
explained that Mixon and the respective placements had been
coparenting and the situation was working well with Mixon
regularly exercising visitation. However, she testified that
after the Department had become involved with the family,
there was more stress and conflict. She explained that
ordering permanent custody would be in the children's
best interest because it would be traumatic to eventually
remove them from their current placements; the children no
longer wanted to attend court; and the children's
respective placements could not make legal decisions without
legal custody.
Henderson
testified that he had been caring for his two children for
about two years due to Mixon's instability. He said that
if the motion was granted, he would still be willing to
arrange visitation with Mixon. Lastly, he testified he wanted
permanency because since ...