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In re M.C.G.5/26/1999
From the Juvenile Court of Davidson County at Nashville. Honorable Andrew J. Shookhoff, Judge
AFFIRMED AND REMANDED
CRAWFORD, P.J., W.S.: (Concurs) HIGHERS, J.: (Concurs)
Christy Gower (Mother) appeals the trial court's judgment terminating her parental rights to her minor son, M.C.G. We affirm the trial court's judgment based on our Conclusion that the record contains clear and convincing evidence to support the court's findings that the Mother had abandoned M.C.G. and that termination of the Mother's parental rights was in M.C.G.'s best interests.
M.C.G. was born in April 1996. In January 1997, when M.C.G. was less than one year old, the Mother was arrested for attempting to buy illegal drugs from an undercover police officer. Because M.C.G. was with the Mother at the time of her arrest, the Metro Police Department contacted the Department of Children's Services (DCS). DCS subsequently filed a petition in which it sought an adjudication that M.C.G. was a dependent and neglected child and asked that M.C.G. be placed in the custody of the Mother's brother and his wife. See T.C.A. § 37-1-102(b)(12) (1996). Pursuant to a subsequent settlement agreement reached by the parties, the trial court entered an order adjudicating M.C.G. to be a dependent and neglected child due primarily to the Mother's long-term addiction to Dilaudid. The trial court's order placed M.C.G. in the joint legal custody of (1) the Mother and (2) the Mother's brother and his wife, with the latter to have physical custody of M.C.G.
At a May 6, 1997, Dispositional hearing, the trial court was informed that the Mother's brother and his wife had returned M.C.G. to the Mother's care several days previously. By this time, the Mother was participating in a methadone treatment program in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and she lived in a motel there. Based upon the evidence presented at the May 1997 hearing, which included the telephonic testimony of a counselor at the methadone treatment center in Bowling Green, the trial court entered an order placing M.C.G. in the legal custody of DCS. The trial court's order indicated that such custody would be "for a very short period of time" and that the court would review the matter "for possible return of custody to the mother on June 5, 1997."
After the May 1997 Dispositional hearing, DCS employees did not have any contact with the Mother again until November 1997. At a hearing held December 9, 1997, the trial court was informed that the Mother had contacted Peggy Carter at DCS. The Mother had not asked to visit M.C.G., however, and had told Carter that "it would take her a while to get herself together." In its order entered after the hearing, the trial court changed the permanency goal for M.C.G. from the concurrent goals of "return to parent" and "adoption" to the single goal of "adoption." By this time, M.C.G.'s father, the Mother's estranged husband, had surrendered his parental rights to M.C.G.
Although the permanency goal for M.C.G. had changed to adoption, DCS still prepared and discussed a plan of care with the Mother. During this Discussion, which took place in either December 1997 or January 1998, DCS case manager Peggy Carter described to the Mother the tasks that would be expected of her. These tasks required the Mother to (1) complete treatment for her drug addiction, (2) remain drug free, (3) make contact with DCS and visit M.C.G. on a regular basis, (4) maintain a known address, and (5) obtain employment so that she could support M.C.G. Under this arrangement, the Mother was expected to call DCS at the beginning of each week if she wanted to schedule a visit with M.C.G. during that week.
On Januar
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