Barbara M. v. Dcs, 1 CA-JV 21-0281

Mother and Father are biological parents of A.D. (b. July 2017) and V.D. (b. Aug. 2019); family had domestic violence and parental substance-abuse issues.
DCS intervened in May–Aug 2019 after reports that drugs/needles were accessible to the children; both children were removed and dependency petitions were filed.
The case plan was reunification; DCS offered drug testing, treatment, domestic-violence counseling, and parent-aide services.
Over ~18 months Mother missed 103 urine tests, refused a hair test, failed multiple tests, and did not complete treatment or parent-aide services.
DCS moved to terminate Mother’s parental rights for chronic substance abuse and 15-months out-of-home placement; Mother missed a pretrial conference and the court deemed her to have waived a trial, held an accelerated hearing, and terminated her rights.
The juvenile court adopted DCS’s proposed findings and conclusions verbatim; Mother appealed arguing the court violated due process by delegating its fact-finding to DCS. The court affirmed.

Issue	Mother’s Argument	DCS’s Argument	Held
Whether the juvenile court violated due process by adopting DCS’s proposed findings and delegating fact-finding	The court improperly delegated its written findings and conclusions to DCS; the court itself must make the findings	A court may request or adopt a party’s proposed findings so long as it independently reaches the same conclusions	Adoption of proposed findings is permissible if the court independently considers the record; Mother did not show the court failed to do so, and she did not argue the findings were erroneous — claim fails
Whether Mother waived the challenge by not objecting below	Implicitly contests waiver or asserts appellate review is required regardless	DCS: Mother waived this argument by failing to object in the juvenile court	Court: Mother did not waive; appellate review is required for statutory procedural safeguards and waiver does not apply here

Brenda D. v. Dep’t of Child Safety, 243 Ariz. 437 (2018) (statutory procedural safeguards ensure due process in termination proceedings)
Ruben M. v. Dep’t of Econ. Sec., 230 Ariz. 236 (App. 2012) (parents are entitled to fundamentally fair procedures in termination cases)
Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745 (1982) (due process standard for termination of parental rights)
Francine C. v. Dep’t of Child Safety, 249 Ariz. 289 (App. 2020) (legislatively imposed juvenile-court requirements for appellate review cannot be waived by parties)
Elliott v. Elliot, 165 Ariz. 128 (App. 1990) (trial court may adopt proposed findings when they match findings it reaches independently)