Clinton Bradley Walker v. Campbell County Department of Social Services, 1973163

Mother gave birth to L.J.W. in Feb 2015; umbilical cord screen showed benzodiazepines, buprenorphine, and opiates; mother tested positive without prescriptions and admitted heroin history and Suboxone use; a safety plan was created but mother was jailed in March 2015.
Appellant (father) lived in the Walker household; he repeatedly tested positive for various drugs (including buprenorphine, amphetamines, PCP, opiates), refused or failed multiple drug tests, and admitted prior prescriptions had lapsed.
Children (infants L.J.W. and I.B.W.) were removed to foster care in March 2015; foster-care plan required appellant to obtain substance-abuse/mental-health treatment, maintain contact and visits, secure housing and employment.
Appellant frequently missed or cancelled visits and check-ins, performed poorly during visits, failed to complete treatment, lost his job, and could not secure suitable housing; mother’s rights to a separate child (A.C.) were also involuntarily terminated.
The JDR court approved termination petitions and the circuit court conducted a de novo bench trial in Sept. 2016; the court terminated appellant’s residual parental rights to L.J.W. under Code § 16.1-283(B) and (C) and to I.B.W. under Code § 16.1-283(C) (including C(1) for failure to maintain contact).

Issue	Walker's Argument	Campbell County DSS's Argument	Held
Admission of mother’s psychological report (hearsay)	Report inadmissible hearsay as to Walker because it concerns mother’s statements	Admissible under hearsay exception for statements made for medical diagnosis/treatment (Va. R. Evid. 2:803(4))	Admitted: court held mother’s statements were for diagnosis/treatment and thus admissible under the medical-treatment hearsay exception
Admission of prior order terminating mother’s rights to A.C. (relevance)	Irrelevant to Walker—he is not A.C.’s father and it prejudiced him	Relevant to mother’s potential as alternative custodian and to statutory considerations regarding sibling-termination history	Admitted: relevant to mother’s suitability and placement considerations; any prejudice to Walker was not reversible in a bench trial
Sufficiency of evidence for termination of Walker’s parental rights	Evidence insufficient to meet clear-and-convincing standard under Code § 16.1-283(B) and (C)(2)	Father failed to remedy conditions, maintain contact, complete treatment, or provide stable housing — termination served children’s best interests	Affirmed: independent ground (C)(1) for I.B.W. (failure to maintain contact/plan) not challenged; ample evidence supported termination for L.J.W. and I.B.W.

Bristol Dep’t of Social Servs. v. Welch, 64 Va. App. 34 (discussing standard of review and viewing evidence in light most favorable to prevailing party)
Logan v. Fairfax Cty. Dep’t of Human Dev., 13 Va. App. 123 (paramount consideration is child’s best interests and court’s broad discretion)
Braxton v. Commonwealth, 26 Va. App. 176 (hearsay general rule and burden to establish exceptions)
Campos v. Commonwealth, 67 Va. App. 690 (reliability is the touchstone for medical-treatment hearsay exception)
Brown v. Spotsylvania Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 43 Va. App. 205 (agency must produce evidence of relatives willing and suitable for custody)
Fields v. Dinwiddie Cty. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 46 Va. App. 1 (failure to challenge one statutory basis renders challenge to others moot)
Kaywood v. Halifax Cty. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 10 Va. App. 535 (not in child’s best interests to wait indefinitely for a parent to become capable)