Opinion
13-601
11-06-2013
STATE IN THE INTEREST OF S. V. & C. V.
Diane Elaine Cote COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE: State of La., Department of Children & Fam. Services Franchesca L. Hamilton-Acker Acadiana Legal Service Corp. COUNSEL FOR APPELLEES: S. V. (child) C. V. (child) Scott J. Privat Privat & Privat COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE: B. V. (father) Carolyn Cole Public Defender's Office COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT: A. J. (mother) Tracy Davenport-McGraw OCS - Indigent Defender COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT: A. J. (mother)
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION
APPEAL FROM THE
FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT
PARISH OF ACADIA, NO. 5020
HONORABLE JOHN DAMIAN TRAHAN, DISTRICT JUDGE
JOHN D. SAUNDERS
JUDGE
Court composed of Ulysses Gene Thibodeaux, Chief Judge, John D. Saunders,
and Phyllis M. Keaty, Judges.
AFFIRMED.
MOTION TO WITHDRAW GRANTED.
Diane Elaine Cote
COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE:
State of La., Department of Children & Fam. Services
Franchesca L. Hamilton-Acker
Acadiana Legal Service Corp.
COUNSEL FOR APPELLEES:
S. V. (child)
C. V. (child)
Scott J. Privat
Privat & Privat
COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE:
B. V. (father)
Carolyn Cole
Public Defender's Office
COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT:
A. J. (mother)
Tracy Davenport-McGraw
OCS - Indigent Defender
COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT:
A. J. (mother)
SAUNDERS, Judge.
On March 11, 2013, after conducting termination proceedings, the trial court issued a judgment terminating the parental rights of mother, A.J., and father, B.V., over their children, S.V. and C.V., born in 2010 and 2011, certifying the children were eligible for adoption. Counsel was appointed to represent A.J. on appeal. Counsel filed a brief requesting to withdraw pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396 (1967). For the reasons herein, we affirm the trial court's judgment as to A.J. and permit counsel to withdraw.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The Department of Children and Family Services ("the State") assumed custody of S.V. and C.V. on October 4, 2011, pursuant to an instanter order. The order notes that the State had been observing A.J. since September 10, 2007, when A.J. fell asleep with a lit cigarette, resulting in a fire in the hotel room in which she was living. Responding police discovered numerous illegal drugs in the room. Her then three-week-old baby, a child not addressed in the instant action, was sleeping next to the fire. That child was later freed for adoption after A.J. stipulated to termination of parental rights on August 3, 2009.
The order further states that the State received a report that S.V.'s parents appeared to be under the influence o