Reasonable reunification efforts; Accommodation of a respondent’s intellectual disability; Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); In re Hicks/Brown; Effect of the DHHS’s lack of knowledge of the disability; Identifying other appropriate services; In re Sanborn; Child’s best interests; Weight given to the parent-child bond & a parent’s progress

Holding that respondent-mother showed no reversible error in the trial court’s findings that the DHHS made reasonable reunification efforts and that termination was in the child’s best interests, the court affirmed the termination order. She contended that, in providing services, the DHHS “made no effort to accommodate her intellectual disability as required under” the ADA. But the court noted the “DHHS ‘cannot accommodate a disability of which it is unaware,’ and it must have knowledge that a parent is disabled before it is required to provide reasonable accommodations for that disability under the ADA.” Apart from “making conclusory assertions, respondent” did not show that she suffered “from an intellectual disability or that, even if she did, DHHS was aware of that disability” when providing her with services. It noted that “neither the psychological evaluation nor the evaluator diagnosed respondent with any cognitive or intellectual disabilities requiring ADA accommodations.” In addition, “and more fundamentally,” a respondent challenging the offered services bears the burden “to identify other ‘services that would have been appropriate in light of such disability or how the services offered were deficient’ and to demonstrate that he or ‘she would have fared better if other services had been offered.’” Respondent failed to do so. As to the child’s best interests, the record belied the claim that the trial “court failed to adequately account for the parent-child bond” and respondent’s progress in services. The record showed that it properly weighed all the available evidence, including testimony and documentary evidence that established “respondent refused to participate in any of the recommended parenting-education courses; was still using and testing positive for substances; was not consistently participating in mental-health treatments and” continued to be in a relationship with a man who “was selling, and providing her with, drugs.”