Children’s best interests; Parent-child bond; In re White; Parenting ability; Failure to protect; Foster care placement; Adoption; Speculative evidence

The court held that the trial court did not clearly err by finding that termination of respondent-mother’s parental rights was in the children’s best interests. Respondent pleaded no contest to allegations supporting jurisdiction and statutory grounds after one child disappeared and was presumed dead, while a registered sex offender (B) whom respondent had allowed to live in the home was charged with first-degree murder and CSC I. On appeal, the court first held that respondent’s engagement with the caseworker and visits did not outweigh the evidence supporting termination. Although she was “communicative,” she “continually refused to take accountability for the abuse her children suffered,” and they did not want visits because “they were afraid of her.” The court next rejected respondent’s argument that there was no evidence of B’s conduct because the record “belies respondent’s claim,” including petition allegations that he abused children and that respondent ignored his status as a registered sex offender “as early as 2012.” The court also held that respondent’s prior approval as an adoptive parent did not establish present fitness because that fact did not “diminish” that she later knowingly allowed a registered sex offender to live with and have unsupervised contact with the children. Finally, the court rejected respondent’s reliance on a Kids Talk interview that was not admitted because her speculation about what it might show did not overcome other evidence, including reports that respondent “whooped” the children, that one child was hit hard enough to bleed, that another child reported repeated sexual abuse in the home, and that respondent “did nothing to stop it.” The court further emphasized that the children were doing well in foster care, had bonded with their caregivers, were receiving trauma-based services, and their foster parent was willing to adopt them. Affirmed.