Termination under §§ 19b(3)(c)(i), (g), & (j); Reasonable reunification efforts; Child’s best interests

In these consolidated appeals, the court affirmed termination of respondents-parents’ parental rights to the child, holding that the DHHS made reasonable efforts toward reunification and that termination of respondent-father’s parental rights was in the child’s best interests. The case was “before the trial court for more than three years. Despite respondents’ representations to the contrary, the record confirms that, from the beginning, and on several occasions thereafter, respondents were offered but refused the opportunity to participate in inpatient treatment. Then, when it appeared that respondents were on the precipice of having their parental rights terminated, the trial court, not once but twice, refused to do so and granted respondents even more time to address their serious substance abuse issues. Indeed, they were specifically granted more time to permit them to enter inpatient treatment.” Given this record, the court rejected “respondents’ suggestion that reasonable efforts were not made toward reunification.”