Opinion
NO. 2014-CA-000873-ME NO. 2014-CA-000874-ME NO. 2014-CA-000875-ME NO. 2014-CA-000928-ME NO. 2014-CA-000929-ME NO. 2014-CA-000930-ME
09-18-2015
J.F. APPELLANT v. CABINET FOR HEALTH AND FAMILY SERVICES, COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY; J.F., A CHILD; J.J.F., A CHILD; Ja.J.F., A CHILD; KIETH GAMBREL, GUARDIAN AD LITEM APPELLEES AND J.C. APPELLANT v. CABINET FOR HEALTH AND FAMILY SERVICES, COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY; J.F., A CHILD; J.J.F., A CHILD; Ja.J.F., A CHILD; KIETH GAMBREL, GUARDIAN AD LITEM APPELLEES
BRIEF FOR APPELLANT J.F.: E. Ashley Bellamy Wilder, Kentucky BRIEF FOR APPELLANT J.C.: Rene Heinrich Newport, Kentucky BRIEFS FOR APPELLEE: Cynthia Kloeker Florence, Kentucky
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED APPEALS FROM CAMPBELL CIRCUIT COURT
HONORABLE RICHARD A. WOESTE, JUDGE
ACTION NOS. 13-AD-00034, 13-AD-00035 AND 13-AD-00036
OPINION
AFFIRMING
BEFORE: DIXON, JONES, AND NICKELL, JUDGES. DIXON, JUDGE: J.F. ("Father") and J.C. ("Mother") appeal from three separate judgments of the Campbell Circuit Court terminating their parental rights to J.F. Jr., J.J.F., and Ja.J.F. ("Children"). Finding no error, we affirm.
The Cabinet filed an action seeking to terminate the parental rights of Mother and Father, and a bench trial was held on March 14, 2014. The circuit court rendered detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law, which stated, in relevant part:
7. The Campbell Family Court's involvement with this family began on December 31, 2008, when the Cabinet filed a petition regarding [Mother's] substance abuse. She tested positive for benzodiazepines at the time of [J.F. Jr.'s] birth. Custody of [J.F. Jr.] and [J.J.F.] remained with [Mother] at that time but on April 7, 2010, [J.J.F.] and [J.F. Jr.] were committed to the Cabinet because [Mother] had not followed the terms of her probation in her criminal matters and was a fugitive. The Campbell Family Court granted custody of [J.F. Jr.] and [J.J.F] to [Father].The court's judgment recited both parents' lengthy history of domestic violence, substance abuse, criminal activity, and incarceration. The court found that both parents were non-complaint with the Cabinet's case plan and that neither parent had contacted the Children since 2011. At the time of the trial, the Children were ages five, four, and three, and they had been in foster care for approximately three years. The court noted the Children were doing very well and were integrated with their foster family. The court concluded that termination of parental rights was in the Children's best interests.
8. [Mother] gave birth to [Ja.J.F.] while she was a resident at a women's residential treatment program. Despite multiple opportunities for treatment, the juvenile court records demonstrate that [Mother] continued to abuse substances and was re-incarcerated at the Kentucky Correctional Complex for Women to serve out the rest of her sentence until August of 2011.
9. Due to [Father's] criminal lifestyle and due to the fact that his parole was revoked, [J.J.F.] and [J.F. Jr.] entered foster care on November 17, 2010, and they were subsequently committed to the Cabinet. Their younger sibling, [Ja.J.F.], who was born on October 2, 2010, entered foster care on April 20, 2011.
The court recited several factors pursuant to KRS 625.090 to support its decision: The Children had been committed to the Cabinet for at least fifteen months preceding the filing of the petition; the Children were abused or neglected as defined by KRS 600.020(1); the parents continuously failed to provide essential parental care for the Children; the parents had abandoned the Children for more than ninety days; for reasons other than poverty alone, the parents continuously failed to provide for the Children's essential food, clothing, shelter, medical care or education; there was no reasonable expectation that the parents' conduct would improve in the immediate future; the parents failed to make reasonable efforts to change their conduct so the Children could return home. --------
Mother and Father were each represented by appointed counsel during the termination proceedings. On appeal, counsel filed Anders briefs on behalf of Mother and Father, asserting that there are no non-frivolous issues to appeal. Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S. Ct. 1396, 18 L. Ed. 2d 493 (1967). In A.C. v. Cabinet for Health and Family Services, 362 S.W.3d 361, 371 (Ky. App. 2012), this Court concluded that appointed counsel may file an Anders brief in a termination of parental rights case after "counsel has conducted a thorough, good-faith review of the record and can ascertain absolutely no meritorious issue to raise on appeal." We must conduct our own review of the record to determine whether the appeal is, in fact, without merit. Id.
Parental rights "can be involuntarily terminated only if there is clear and convincing evidence that the child has been abandoned, neglected, or abused by the parent whose rights are to be terminated, and that it would be in the best interest of the child to do so." Cabinet for Health and Family Services v. A.G.G., 190 S.W.3d 338, 342 (Ky. 2006); KRS 625.090. The trial court's findings of fact are entitled to great deference; accordingly, this Court applies the clearly erroneous standard of review. CR 52.01; M.P.S. v. Cabinet for Human Resources, 979 S.W.2d 114, 116 (Ky. App. 1998). Where the record contains substantial evidence to support the trial court's findings, we will not disturb them on appeal. Id.
We have carefully reviewed the record and conclude that substantial evidence supports the court's determination. The court rendered specific findings that the statutory requirements for termination had been met and that it was in the Children's best interests to terminate the parental rights of Father and Mother. We agree with counsel's assertion that there were no meritorious grounds for appeal.
For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the judgments of the Campbell Circuit Court in each of these appeals.
ALL CONCUR. BRIEF FOR APPELLANT
J.F.:
E. Ashley Bellamy
Wilder, Kentucky
BRIEF FOR APPELLANT
J.C.:
Rene Heinrich
Newport, Kentucky
BRIEFS FOR APPELLEE: Cynthia Kloeker
Florence, Kentucky