Nicole M. v. Dcs, 1 CA-JV 16-0389

Three children were removed from Mother in May 2015 after one newborn was methamphetamine-exposed; DCS filed dependency petitions and a reunification plan was approved after Mother failed to appear at the initial dependency hearing.
Mother began supervised visits but repeatedly tested positive for methamphetamine and failed to engage consistently in treatment and testing.
DCS changed the case plan to severance and adoption and moved to terminate Mother’s parental rights under statutory grounds including chronic drug abuse and length of out-of-home care.
At a May 2016 hearing the pretrial was continued to June 14; Mother attended the May hearing but did not appear on June 14. The court proceeded in her absence, received DCS testimony and exhibits, and terminated Mother’s parental rights.
Mother moved to set aside the termination, asserting she was incarcerated for a probation violation at the time of the June hearing and therefore had good cause for nonappearance; she alleged she lacked contact information while jailed and that she attempted to notify jail staff.
The juvenile court found Mother could have appeared telephonically while incarcerated, had not shown she tried to contact counsel, the court, or DCS, and therefore failed to show excusable neglect; the court denied the motion to set aside and this appeal followed.

Issue	Mother’s Argument	DCS’s / Court’s Argument	Held
Whether Mother showed good cause (excusable neglect) for failing to appear at the severance pretrial while incarcerated	Mother: incarceration prevented appearance and she lacked on-person contact info; she reasonably did what she could and promptly moved to set aside after release	Court: Mother could have appeared telephonically, did not explain efforts to contact counsel/court/DCS or use available telephone access; unexplained neglect is not excusable	Affirmed: court did not abuse discretion in finding no good cause (no excusable neglect)
Whether proceeding in Mother’s absence violated due process / improper judicial notice	Mother: proceeding denied due process because she was incarcerated and the court improperly took judicial notice about jail phone access	Court: parent may waive process rights by failing to appear without good cause; any judicial-notice error was harmless because Mother failed to show reasonable efforts to obtain contact numbers or otherwise notify the court	Affirmed: no reversible error or due-process violation given lack of good-cause showing

Michael J. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec., 196 Ariz. 246 (2000) (parental custody is a fundamental but not absolute right)
Christy A. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec., 217 Ariz. 299 (App. 2007) (good-cause standard requires excusable neglect and a meritorious defense)
Manuel M. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec., 218 Ariz. 205 (App. 2008) (parent may waive procedural rights by unexcused failure to appear)
Marianne N. v. Dep’t of Child Safety, 240 Ariz. 470 (App. 2016) (standard of review: abuse of discretion for court’s good-cause findings)
Richas v. Superior Court, 133 Ariz. 512 (1982) (unexplained neglect is not excusable)