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D.S.S. v. Clay County Dept. of Human Resources9/17/1999
D.S.S. ("the mother") and J.B. ("the father") appeal from a judgment terminating their parental rights as to their two daughters, 15-year-old B.B. and 13-year-old A.B. We affirm the judgment as to the mother, but reverse the judgment as to the father.
The mother and father were never married to each other, but they lived together in Clay County, Alabama, for about four years, from 1983 until 1987, a period spanning the births of both daughters. When A.B., the younger daughter, was a year old, the parents separated; the mother remained in Clay County and the father moved to Georgia.
The Clay County Department of Human Resources ("DHR") first investigated reports of child abuse and neglect concerning B.B. and A.B. in 1991. At that time, the two girls were living with their mother, an older brother, and the mother's boyfriend. Most of the abuse and neglect reports stemmed from alcohol abuse and fighting by the mother and her boyfriend. In January 1992, the mother stabbed the boyfriend in the hand with a knife. When DHR caseworker Tammy Harkness arrived at the residence, she found that the children were dirty, had head lice, and had no winter coats.
Between August 1992, and February 1995, DHR received several reports indicating that the mother had left the children unsupervised for extended periods or that she had left them in the care of her boyfriend, who was habitually intoxicated. Ms. Harkness learned that the mother was on probation for a felony theft conviction and that one of the conditions of her probation was that she not allow her boyfriend to be around the children. In February 1995, Ms. Harkness found the boyfriend drunk and hiding under a bed in the mother's residence.
The mother's probation was revoked, and she was incarcerated for a year. During her imprisonment, the mother arranged for C.T., the children's maternal grandmother, to take care of the children. When the mother was released from prison, she went back to the boyfriend and the children remained with C.T. In early 1997, however, C.T. was convicted of perjury and went to prison herself. At that time, DHR was awarded custody of the children, and they were placed in a foster home. The children have not lived with the mother since February 1997.
Tammy Harkness testified that in 1995 DHR entered into a service agreement and rehabilitation plan with the mother. At that time, Harkness told the mother that she needed to stop drinking, to stay out of trouble with the law, and to maintain a stable home. DHR offered the mother counseling and parenting classes and recommended that she attend Alcoholics Anonymous ("AA") meetings and have intensive outpatient therapy.
Harkness testified that, during the 22 months the children had been in foster care, the mother had attended a few AA meetings and counseling sessions, but that she had not stopped abusing alcohol. She said that the mother would appear to be making progress for a few weeks and then she would be arrested for DUI or another alcohol-related offense. A Clay County deputy sheriff testified that in August 1998 he was called to the home of Mrs. S., the mother of M.S., the mother's current husband, to forcefully remove the mother, who was naked and intoxicated to the point of stupor, from the premises.
At trial in December 1998, the mother testified that she was currently employed as a waitress, that she earned $640 per month, that she was paying $250 per month in child support, and that she visited the children regularly while they were in foster care. The mother invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege not to testify about any alcohol-related offenses. She stated that her court date on one DUI charge was the day
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