In re Child of Lacy H., 212 A.3d 320

Background

Child born premature in Feb 2017 and removed by DHHS after alleged prenatal marijuana exposure and concerns about the mother’s care. Court entered preliminary protection and later a jeopardy order citing substance abuse, criminal history, untreated mental health issues, and unstable housing.
Permanency plan focused on reunification; mother ordered to complete counseling, drug screens, supervised visits, and a diagnostic evaluation. DHHS filed to terminate parental rights in Jan 2018 alleging relapse, inconsistent service participation, and an outstanding Georgia arrest warrant.
DHHS considered a trial placement with the mother in May 2018 but that planned placement was cancelled or delayed after involvement by the Governor’s office; Department staff disagreed internally about safety and no trial placement occurred.
Trial on termination occurred in Nov 2018. The court found by clear and convincing evidence that mother has Antisocial Personality Disorder with poor prognosis, had credibility issues about sobriety, exhibited impaired judgment about people and housing, and remained unable to protect the child within a timeframe meeting the child’s needs.
The court terminated parental rights, concluding termination was in the child’s best interest after nearly two years in foster care. Mother appealed, arguing due process and equal protection violations from the Governor’s intervention and challenging the findings of unfitness and best interest.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Governor’s office involvement in cancelling/delaying a May 2018 trial placement violated mother’s due process rights	Lacy: executive interference deprived her of fundamentally fair procedures and prejudiced reunification prospects	DHHS: executive involvement in Department matters is permissible; decision not to place was safety-driven and occurred within family-team process	No obvious constitutional error; record shows safety concerns and internal disagreement, but no arbitrary or conscience-shocking executive conduct found
Whether Governor’s involvement violated equal protection	Lacy: Governor’s public statements suggest discriminatory intent against persons with certain histories entering Maine	DHHS: no evidence that Governor’s input was discriminatory or that like-situated persons were treated differently	Court found no evidence of discriminatory treatment; equal protection claim fails
Whether trial court erred in finding mother unfit	Lacy: recent efforts showed improvement and trial placement would have demonstrated fitness	DHHS: mother’s late engagement, relapse history, diagnostic opinion, and credibility problems support unfitness finding	Court’s findings supported by competent evidence; mother remained unable to rectify jeopardy within child’s timeframe; no reversible error
Whether termination is in child’s best interest	Lacy: argued that termination was premature given supervised parenting success	DHHS: long foster care period, safety concerns, and low likelihood of timely change favor termination	Court reasonably concluded termination served child’s best interest after nearly two years in care

Key Cases Cited

In re A.M., 55 A.3d 463 (Me. 2012) (standard for reviewing trial court findings)
In re Child of Kaysean M., 197 A.3d 525 (Me. 2018) (standard for plain/obvious error review)
In re Children of Bethmarie R., 189 A.3d 252 (Me. 2018) (due process constraints in child protection cases)
LeGrand v. York Cty. Judge of Prob., 168 A.3d 783 (Me. 2017) (substantive due process limits on arbitrary executive action)
In re Kristy Y., 752 A.2d 166 (Me. 2000) (procedural due process factors)
In re Thomas D., 854 A.2d 195 (Me. 2004) (timeliness requirement to meet child’s needs in termination decisions)
In re Children of Christine A., 207 A.3d 186 (Me. 2019) (credibility and weight of parental testimony)
In re Thomas H., 889 A.2d 297 (Me. 2005) (best-interest considerations after prolonged foster care)
Adoption of Riahleigh M., 202 A.3d 1174 (Me. 2019) (equal protection and treatment of similarly situated persons)