Lead Opinion
¶ 1. Mother appeals from a superior court order adjudicating the minors J.C. and T.F. to be children in need of care and supervision (CHINS). Mother contends that the evidence and findings fail to support the judgment, and that the court’s findings were conclusory and inadequate. We affirm.
¶ 2. This proceeding commenced with the filing of CHINS petitions in June 2014, based on reports and observations of social-service providers concerning mother’s care of the children during the preceding six months. At the time, mother was living with her child, J.C., who was almost five years old, her husband and their daughter, T.F., who was almost two years old, and her husband’s daughter K.P., who was then six years old. K.P. is the subject of a separate CHINS proceeding. The trial court held a merits hearing as to J.C. and T.F. in May 2015, and issued a written ruling in July 2015.
¶ 3. The facts may be summarized as follows. An in-home service provider with the Early Head Start program who visited the family on several occasions in May 2014 observed a number of cruel and abusive interactions between mother and her stepdaughter K.P. Mother told K.P. that “she didn’t want her anymore,” informed the Head Start provider that she wanted to paddle K.P. “until she bled,” admitted that she had not given K.P. anything to drink for two days to teach her a lesson for “stealing food from the refrigerator,” reported that she had made K.P. stand in a corner for hours, and stated that she “wantfed] to be the next one on T.V. for killing her kid K.P.”
¶ 4. Based on the Head Start provider’s report, a social worker with the Department for Children and Families also visited the home. She observed that mother appeared to be stressed, overwhelmed, and agitated throughout the visits, noted similarly cruel treatment of K.P, and also observed an incident in which mother grabbed J.C. by the arms and forced the child onto a couch. Mother testified that she regularly suffered from depression, and had been prescribed medication but was not taking it. Father testified about his own extensive history of drug abuse and struggles to stay clean and sober. Although his work kept him away from the home for much of the time, he testified that he had no concerns about mother’s treatment of the children.
¶ 5. The court concluded that mother had emotionally and physically abused K.P., and further concluded that the evidence demonstrated mother’s general inability to properly care for J.C. and T.F. and her need for parenting education. The court noted father’s need for continued substance abuse treatment. Based on these conclusions, the court adjudicated both children to be CHINS, and set the matter for a disposition hearing. This appeal by mother followed.
¶ 6. When reviewing a CHINS adjudication, we will “uphold the court’s factual findings unless clearly erroneous and
¶ 7. A child is “in need of care or supervision” when, among other possible situations, he or she is “without proper parental care or subsistence, education, medical, or other care necessary for his or her well-being.” 33 V.S.A. § 5102(8)(B). As we have explained, “[t]he focus of a CHINS proceeding is the welfare of the child, and therefore a court may adjudicate the child as CHINS even if the allegations are established as to one parent but not the other.” In re C.P.,
¶ 8. Mother concedes that evidence of a parent’s treatment of a sibling may be relevant in deciding whether a child is CHINS. She contends, however, that such treatment “is not alone conclusive” and that the trial court here erred “when it concluded that treatment of a sibling alone, without any connection to the children subject to the CHINS petition, was sufficient to conclude those children are CHINS.”
¶ 9. The record does not support mother’s characterization of the court’s ruling or the evidentiary basis of its decision. As noted, the trial court concluded that mother’s cruel treatment of K.P. “also endanger[ed] the health and welfare of J.C. and T.F.” This conclusion found support in the testimony of the family’s DCF social worker, who testified at length about her observations of mother at home with all three children. The social worker observed that mother was generally “stressed out [and] overwhelmed”; that the apartment was “chaotic”; and that mother’s demeanor throughout the visit was “very agitated.” Although mother’s blatant and vicious cruelty was directed at K.P, the social worker also observed an incident in which mother, while “extremely stressed,” grabbed J.C.’s arms and pushed the child onto a couch with such force that the social worker “voiced to [mother] my concern for the way that she was handling her own daughter.” The social worker also recalled that, “[w]ith all three children . . . [mother] was very agitated,” and that mother readily acknowledged feeling overwhelmed by her circumstances.
¶ 10. In addition, a DCF investigator who visited the home several months before the filing of the CHINS petition recalled that mother had complained of J.C.’s “behavioral difficulties” and had admitted her “struggles to manage J.C.’s behaviors.” In her own testimony, mother acknowledged
¶ 11. The record thus does not support mother’s claim that the trial court relied solely on her treatment of K.P. in concluding that J.C. and T.F. were at risk. On the contrary, the record shows that mother’s cruelty occurred in circumstances where all three children were present and where — according to several disinterested witnesses — she exhibited a high level of stress and agitation which manifested itself in at least one instance of physical aggression toward J.C. that caused concern and comment by the family’s DCF social worker. This was sufficient to support the court’s conclusion that her general conduct endangered the health and welfare of J.C. and T.F.
¶ 12. Mother also makes much of the court’s findings that she “singled out K.P. for disparate treatment” and was observed to “treat K.P. differently than the other children.” Mother maintains that these findings betray a “logical inconsistency” with the court’s subsequent conclusion that her behavior posed a risk to the other children. The argument is unpersuasive. The risk to J.C. and T.F. was plainly predicated on the agitated and unstable environment in which K.P.’s abuse occurred; finding that mother singled-out K.P. for particular abuse is not inconsistent with that determination.
¶ 13. Finally, mother asserts that the court’s findings are sparse and conclusory and fail to adequately explain the reasoning underlying its decision. CHINS orders must set forth findings sufficient to support a conclusion that the child is in need or care or supervision. In re M.C.P.,
Affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
¶ 14. dissenting. I don’t disagree with the majority’s characterization of the applicable law in this case, but do disagree with the majority’s holding that the trial court’s findings support its conclusion that J.C. and T.F. were CHINS. I would remand to the trial court for further findings.
¶ 15. The applicable law is uncontroversial: it requires a distinct determination that a child is without proper parental care with respect to each child subject to a CHINS petition, but does not necessarily require a finding that the child has suffered actual harm; and it allows but does not require a factfinder, in appropriate circumstances, to infer that a parent’s conduct toward one child reflects a risk to the other.
¶ 16. With respect to the first point, this Court has explained, “the focus of a CHINS proceeding is the welfare of the child.” In re B.R.,
¶ 17. Concerning the second point, this Court has explained that “ ‘[wjhether treatment of one child is probative of neglect or abuse of a sibling must be determined on the basis of the facts of each case.’ ” E.J.R. v. Young,
¶ 18. On the other hand, where evidence that supports a CHINS determination with respect to one child is not probative of the risk of harm to another, that evidence may not support a CHINS determination as to the second child. See, e.g., In re J.M.,
¶ 19. Applying these principles to the trial court’s findings, I cannot agree that those findings support the conclusion that J.C. and T.F. are CHINS. The trial court’s findings concerning mother’s horrific treatment of K.P. emphasize K.P.’s unique position in the household, and fail to provide a bridge from mother’s treatment of K.P. to the risks faced by the other children. Nor can I join in the majority’s refraining of the trial court’s decision.
¶ 20. The trial court’s findings paint a picture of a vulnerable and unwelcome stepchild who is singled out for shocking
¶ 21. A different social worker testified about mother’s reports of stress with K.P. Mother said that she did not want K.P, but that the child “came with the marriage.” Mother described K.P. as an odd child who did not act like a normal child, who ate more food than they could afford to feed her, and who, as a result of toileting issues, required pull-ups that they could not afford. That social worker also saw mother “treat K.P. differently than the other children” during the social worker’s visit to the home.
¶ 22. On the basis of these findings, the trial court concluded that mother’s treatment of K.P. supported a CHINS finding as to J.C. and T.F. In particular, the court found that K.P. suffered emotional and physical abuse at the hands of mother. The court elaborated, explaining that the child came to the home suffering symptoms relating to possible prior trauma, mother was overwhelmed by K.P.’s behavior and ill-equipped to address her needs, mother resented having to care for K.P, and mother stigmatized the child within the family. The court then addressed the critical question in this case involving J.C. and T.F.:
The issue is whether [mother’s] disparate and cruel treatment of K.P. also renders her biological children, J.C. and T.F., children in need of care and supervision. The Court finds that it does. Further, [mother’s] treatment of K.P, and her insensitivity and callous disregard for K.P.’s well-being speak to the general need for parenting education.
¶ 23. Ordinarily, the leap from a parent’s gross mistreatment of one child to the risk of harm faced by another would not be particularly great, especially where the evidence reflects “a pattern of abuse and neglect, and a general inability of [a parent] to protect” any of the children. Young,
¶ 24. The majority addresses the limitations of the trial court’s findings by reshaping its rationale. It characterizes the trial court’s decision as resting on the “agitated and unstable environment in which K.P.’s abuse occurred.” Ante, ¶ 12. It points to the evidence that mother’s cruelty occurred in some circumstances in which all three children were present and in which mother “exhibited a high level of stress and agitation.”
¶ 25. I reject the majority’s approach for two reasons. First, the majority is reframing the trial court’s findings and interposing its own assessment of the record. The trial court’s findings focus almost entirely on mother’s mistreatment of K.P, who was not the subject of the CHINS petitions before the court. The court specifically posed the question of whether mother’s disparate and cruel treatment of K.P. also renders her biological children CHINS, and, with no further explanation, answered in the affirmative. In articulating the unstated connection between mother’s abuse of K.P. and the other children, the majority supplies its own explanation that is not reflected in the trial court’s analysis.
¶ 26. Second, absent mother’s mistreatment of K.P., the trial court’s findings of a generally chaotic household, an overwhelmed mother, and a single incident in which mother grabbed J.C. by the arm and seated her on the couch with no finding that mother’s actions involved an unreasonable degree of force, would not come close to supporting the conclusion that J.C. and T.F. are CHINS. See id. ¶ 12 (“A child is CHINS if he or she ‘is without proper parental care or subsistence, education, medical, or other care necessary for his or her well-being.’ ” (quoting 33 V.S.A. § 5102(3)(B))). Nor does a parent’s “general need for parenting education” trigger a CHINS determination. If these children are CHINS — and I conclude that the record could support a CHINS determination with the proper factual findings — it’s primarily because of the risk of harm to the children arising from mother’s repeated and callous abuse of K.P. in their presence, not because of the general atmosphere in which that abuse happened to take place.
¶ 27. The trial court’s findings with respect to mother’s treatment of K.P. were thoughtful and thorough, but the court’s explanation of the link between that conduct and the risk faced by the other children was conclusory. The evidence in this record could support a CHINS determination with respect to J.C. and T.F., but the court’s findings do not compel such a determination as a matter of law. I would remand this case for additional findings by the trial court.
Notes
In fact, the trial court’s analysis regarding the other children consists of one conclusory paragraph. The trial court’s decision goes to great lengths to detail the abuse of K.R But, as the trial court admits, “[t]he issue is whether [mother’s] disparate treatment of K.P. also renders her biological children ... in need of care and supervisión.” In an eight page opinion and order, a whole six and a half pages are dedicated to analyzing K.P. The trial court devotes a mere paragraph to the children actually under review. While the abuse of K.P is deplorable, the trial court needed findings to support its conclusion the other two children were CHINS. Those findings are missing from the record.