106 Wash. App. 714 | Wash. Ct. App. | 2001
Intervenors Keith and Lisa Blume appeal the juvenile court’s entry of agreed orders finding the children in this action dependent under RCW 13.34.030(5)(c). They claim that the children do not meet the statutory definition of dependency because the Blumes are the children’s legal custodians, capable of caring for them. They farther claim that the court erred in entering agreed orders of dependency over their objection as parties to the action. Because the Blumes did not have final custody of the children as contemplated by RCW 13.34.030(5)(c), we hold that the children are dependent under the statute. Further, because objecting to the orders of dependency exceeded the Blumes’ rights as permissive intervenors, we affirm.
I
Beth and Matthew Huddle met during treatment for drug addiction in the mid-1980s. Over the next 12 years, they
When the Blumes arrived at the Huddles’ home to collect the children, they found the children’s living environment filthy and unhealthy in the extreme. Within a short time after moving in with the Blumes, the children began to disclose details of their parents’ abuse of them. They alleged that their parents disciplined them by shooting BB guns at them, shoving and hitting them, and putting hot sauce on their tongues. The children also described details of their sexual abuse, and reported that they were sexually active among themselves and with other children. The parents later acknowledged that the children were exposed to explicit sexual acts between the Huddles as well as spouse swapping.
When the Huddles completed their treatment programs, the Blumes did not return the children, but instead filed a petition for custody under RCW 26.10.030(1), alleging that the Huddles were unfit parents. The parties agreed to a temporary order, which provided that the Huddles would submit to a parenting evaluation and the children would continue to reside with the Blumes during a gradual transition back to Beth Huddle’s home. Later, the Blumes arranged for the State to remove J.C.H. from their home and place him in therapeutic foster care because of his continued sexual acting out with his siblings (J.W.H., too, was eventually placed in foster care because of his sexualized behavior). The Blumes then obtained a no-contact order between the children and their parents and shortly after that, the State filed a dependency petition on behalf of all the Huddle children.
II
As a preliminary matter, DSHS argues that the Blumes lack standing to appeal because they are not aggrieved by the juvenile court’s decision. We disagree. RCW 13.04.033(1) provides in relevant part that “[a]ny person aggrieved by a final order of the court may appeal the order as provided in this section.”
As intervenors, the Blumes are parties to this action. Moreover, at the time the State filed its dependency petition, the Blumes’ nonparental custody petition under RCW 26.10.030(1) was pending. Because the juvenile court has exclusive original jurisdiction over dependent or allegedly dependent children,
The Blumes claim that the juvenile court has no jurisdiction over the Huddle children because they are not dependent as defined by RCW 13.34.030(5)(c). The subsection defines a dependent child as one who:
Has no parent, guardian, or custodian capable of adequately caring for the child, such that the child is in circumstances which constitute a danger of substantial damage to the child’s psychological or physical development.[4 ]
For the purposes of Title 13 RCW, a “custodian” is “that person who has the legal right to custody of the child.”
When interpreting a statute, we do not construe an unambiguous statute.
But in Hanson v. City of Seattle,
We interpret an ambiguous statute so as to effect the intent of the Legislature within the context of the entire statute.
In 1978, the Washington Legislature enacted the “Juvenile Court Act in Cases Relating to Dependency of a Child and the Termination of a Parent and Child Relationship.”
Based upon this statement of purpose, it is
The permanency planning section of the statute supports this interpretation. It provides that the juvenile court must dismiss a dependency once a guardianship or permanent custody order has been entered.
The Blumes next argue that the court erred in entering an agreed order of dependency where they, as party intervenors, did not agree to its entry. Generally, an intervenor is treated as an original party to an action.
A person may intervene as a matter of right when:
[T]he applicant claims an interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action and he is so situated that the disposition of the action may as a practical matter impair or impede his ability to protect that interest, unless the applicant’s interest is adequately represented by existing parties.[27 ]
In determining whether an applicant has an interest sufficient to intervene as a matter of right, a court makes a case-by-case analysis, balancing the relative concerns of the prospective intervenors, the original parties to the action, and the public in effecting the efficient resolution of the controversy.
In this case, the disposition of the dependency proceeding may well impair the Blumes’ attempt to gain custody of the Huddle children under RCW 26.10.030(1) because the goal in dependency proceedings is to rehabilitate the parents where possible and to reunify the family. There is no such goal in custody proceedings under chapter 26.10 RCW. In fact, successful reunification in the dependency proceeding necessarily means defeat to the Blumes in their third party custody action. But the overarching purpose in both third party custody actions and dependency proceedings is to provide for the best interests of the children at issue. This purpose has primacy over all other rights of both the parents and intervenors.
If an applicant does not satisfy the requirements of intervention as a matter of right, a court, in its discretion, may also allow a party to intervene when:
[A]n applicant’s claim or defense and the main action have a question of law or fact in common. ... In exercising its discretion the court shall consider whether the intervention will unduly delay or prejudice the adjudication of the rights of the original parties.[29 ]
Because we hold that the juvenile court properly allowed the Blumes to permissively intervene, we must address whether the same limits that apply to foster parent/intervenors in dependency proceedings should also apply to the Blumes as petitioners in a third party custody action. In limiting the role of foster parents in dependency proceedings, the court in In re Welfare of Coverdell reasoned:
We appreciate the difficult position of the foster family and recognize the foster parent is motivated by sincere concern and affection for the child. However, a foster parent’s adversarial participation in a dependency hearing has a tendency to shift the focus of the proceeding from the ability of the natural parent to care for the child to a comparison of the natural parent to the foster parent. Inevitably, it becomes an unequal battle since in most instances the natural parent’s shortcomings have brought the matter to court in the first place. The fact the child may have certain advantages in another’s home cannot be determinative of the court’s decision.[30 ]
The Blumes next attempt to analogize their circumstances to the facts of In re Welfare of Hansen, in which the court held that the former guardians of the dependent child were denied due process by the juvenile court’s refusal to hear evidence in support of the child’s dependency (the juvenile court expressed an intent to unify the child with the natural mother and refused to hear evidence from the former guardians concerning the best interests of the child).
Finally, the Blumes argue that because their third party custody action was pending at the time the State petitioned for dependency, the juvenile court must defer a determination of dependency until the custody action is concluded. But RCW 13.04.030(l)(b) explicitly vests the juvenile court with exclusive original jurisdiction over all proceedings relating to children alleged or found to be dependent under RCW 13.34.030, and courts have consistently upheld this grant of authority.
Affirmed.
Grosse and Webster, JJ., concur.
Review granted at 145 Wn.2d 1006 (2001).
See also RAP 3.1.
In re Welfare of Hansen, 24 Wn. App. 27, 35, 599 P.2d 1304 (1979); Sheets v. Benevolent & Protective Order of Keglers, 34 Wn.2d 851, 855, 210 P.2d 690 (1949).
RCW 13.04.030(1)(b).
RCW 13.34.030(5)(c).
RCW 13.04.011(6).
Davis v. Dep’t of Licensing, 137 Wn.2d 957, 963, 977 P.2d 554 (1999).
Wash. Fed’n of State Employees v. State Pers. Bd., 54 Wn. App. 305, 309, 773 P.2d 421 (1989).
113 Wn.2d 591, 781 P.2d 1308, 789 P.2d 306 (1989).
Carver, 113 Wn.2d at 601-02. Since Carver, the Washington Legislature has repealed the statutory custody scheme as between two parents and in its stead has adopted the Parenting Act of 1987. Under this system, neither parent has “custody” of a child to the exclusion of the other, but rather a parenting plan allocates when and how parenting responsibilities are divided between parents. The required designation of “custody” in parenting plans is only for the purposes of “all other state and federal statutes which require a designation,” but the designation does “not affect either parent’s rights and responsibilities under the parenting plan.” RCW 26.09.285.
78 Wn. App. 193, 896 P.2d 726 (1995).
Kastanas, 78 Wn. App. at 200.
80 Wn.2d 242, 493 P.2d 775 (1972).
Hanson, 80 Wn.2d at 247.
Davis, 137 Wn.2d at 963.
Davis, 137 Wn.2d at 963.
Davis, 137 Wn.2d at 963.
State v. Pesta, 87 Wn. App. 515, 521, 942 P.2d 1013 (1997).
Pesta, 87 Wn. App. at 521.
RCW 13.34.010.
RCW 13.34.020.
RCW 13.34.020.
RCW 13.34.020. See also In re Welfare of H.S., 94 Wn. App. 511, 973 P.2d 474, review denied, 138 Wn.2d 1019 (1999), cert. denied, 529 U.S. 1108 (2000) (parental rights terminated where child had been in foster care for six years since infancy and parents still not capable because of chronic mental illness).
See also In re Dependency of K.R., 75 Wn. App. 781, 880 P.2d 88 (1994); In re Welfare of Baby Girl Coverdell, 30 Wn. App. 677, 637 P.2d 991 (1981) (in a dependency proceeding, the State initially attempts to reconstruct the family unit).
RCW 13.34.145(8).
3A Lewis H. Orland & Karl B. Tegland, Washington Practice: Rules Practice CR 24 cmts. at 612 (4th ed. 1992).
In re Dependency of J.H., 117 Wn.2d 460, 471-72, 815 P.2d 1380 (1991); In re Welfare of Coverdell, 39 Wn. App. 887, 890, 696 P.2d 1241 (1984) (foster parents have no right to intervene and where granted permissive intervention, rights may not conflict with rights of legal parents).
CR 24(a)(2).
Dependency of J.H., 117 Wn.2d at 468.
CR 24(b)(2).
Coverdell, 39 Wn. App. at 890-91.
Hansen, 24 Wn. App. at 37.
See In re Marriage of Perry, 31 Wn. App. 604, 644 P.2d 142 (1982) (superior court had authority to proceed with postdivorce custody modification upon express authority of juvenile court to proceed); In re Marriage of Rich, 80 Wn. App. 252, 907 P.2d 1234 (1996) (superior court had authority to enter final parenting plan in