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B.S. v. Cullman County Department of Human Resources3/7/2003
B.S. ("the mother") appeals the termination of her parental rights to K.M.R. ("the child").
The mother was known to the Department of Human Resources as an infant, when she was removed from the home of her biological parents and placed in foster care. The mother was later adopted. The mother has two children other than the child as to whom her parental rights were terminated; none of the mother's children lives with her. The mother's oldest child, L.M.R., a daughter, lives with her father. The mother's other child, A.R., a son, lives with J.R., the mother's biological sister, with whom he was placed shortly after his birth.
In May 1994, the adult-protective-services division of the Cullman County Department of Human Resources (hereinafter "DHR") was informed that the mother, who is mildly mentally retarded, was living in a home unfit for habitation with a boyfriend, J.T.; the mother had been supporting herself and J.T. with her Social Security disability benefits. DHR investigated and found the home to be filthy; windows were missing and dogs penned inside. Although the mother was informed that J.T. was mismanaging her money and was told that she could have a conservator appointed for her, she indicated a desire to remain with J.T.
In October 1996, the mother gave birth to the child. Based on a report from a nurse at the hospital at which the child was born, and also based on discussions with J.M.T., the mother's biological mother, and J.R., her sister, DHR filed a dependency petition and was awarded legal custody of the child. DHR first investigated placing the child with T.W., another sister of the mother's with whom the mother was living at the time. However, T.W.'s husband, W.W., had been found guilty of sexual misconduct. Therefore, DHR refused to place the child in T.W.'s home.
DHR placed the child with J.R.; that placement continued for nine months, after which time J.R. requested that the child be removed from her home. The child was then placed with the mother's cousin, J.G. However, the child was removed from J.G.'s home after approximately six months, when the Morgan County Department of Human Resources, which was supervising the placement, discovered that the cousin had misreported her income and was financially unable to assume responsibility for the child. DHR then placed the child in a foster home for a time; the foster parents requested that she be removed from their home. Finally, the child was placed with her current foster family. She had resided with that family for over two years at the time of the termination hearing. Although test results for the child were not available at the time of the termination hearing, the child suffers from developmental delays, and she exhibits some behavioral problems.
Judy Sandlin, a DHR caseworker, testified on behalf of DHR. Sandlin testified that she had been assigned to this case in May 2001, after DHR had decided to petition to terminate the mother's parental rights. Sandlin testified that she had never seen or spoken with the mother before the termination hearing. According to Sandlin's testimony, which was based upon a court report she prepared that summarized the records in DHR's file on the child, the mother visited the child only sporadically during the five years the child was in DHR's custody, in spite of the fact that DHR urged the mother to visit the child and had offered to provide her transportation to those visits. The mother never requested transportation to visit her child. In the 12 months before the termination hearing, the mother neither visited nor contacted the child.
At the time of the termination hearing, the mother had been married to S.S. for five years. S.S
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