Termination under §§ 19b(3)(g) & (j)

Holding that § (j) was met, the court affirmed termination of respondent-mother’s parental rights. Her rights were terminated based primarily on substance abuse, neglect, and inadequate supervision. On appeal, the court rejected her argument that the DHHS failed to prove a statutory ground for termination. At the outset, it noted that “[b]ecause the trial court failed to comply with the mandates of the revised statute,” it could not affirm the trial court’s findings as to § (g). However, because it “did not err by finding that termination of respondent’s parental rights was appropriate under” other grounds, the error as to § (g) was “not dispositive because only one statutory ground for termination must be proven.” It then found that § (j) was met. “It is abundantly clear from the record that respondent has been battling a chronic substance abuse problem for years and that this problem has been detrimental to her ability to parent the children.” The court found that, “[l]ikely as a result of [her] addiction, she wholly failed to comply with the services provided her during that period. While sustaining sobriety for three months is a good start, the trial court did not err by being unconvinced that she could permanently refrain from falling back into her pattern of substance abuse.” In addition, the court could not reasonably “dispute that young children in the care of a person using” meth and heroin “are at risk of being harmed.” And based on her “substance abuse history, without a longer period of success in recovery a reasonable likelihood remained that respondent would fall back into substance abuse.” As such, the trial court “did not err by finding that there was a reasonable likelihood that the children would be harmed if returned to respondent.”