In re Petition of P.D.J.K., J.W.
In re Petition of P.D.J.K., J.W.
Opinion
Appellant J.W. appeals the decision of the Superior Court to approve the adoption of her daughter S.W. without her consent. She primarily contends that the adoption trial was fundamentally unfair and that the magistrate judge abused her discretion in weighing the evidence. We disagree and affirm.
I. Background
S.W. was born on February 4, 2014. Appellant J.W. is her biological mother and J.J is her biological father. When S.W. was nearly eight months old, the District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency ("CFSA") removed her from J.W.'s care "after J.W. was found incoherent and under the influence of drugs." On September 30, 2014, CFSA placed S.W. in the care of her paternal grandmother, P.D.J.K. A few weeks later the court adjudicated S.W. a neglected child and set an initial permanency goal of reunification with J.W. However, on September 29, 2015, the court changed the permanency goal to adoption due to J.W.'s failure to address her substance abuse, achieve emotional stability, and improve her caretaking *1237 skills. After the change of permanency goal, P.D.J.K. filed a petition to adopt S.W. on February 12, 2016. An adoption trial was originally set for January 2017 but rescheduled, at J.W.'s request, for May 15 and 19, 2017.
Although the father consented to the adoption of S.W. by P.D.J.K. (his mother) and the guardian ad litem supported the adoption petition, J.W. did not. In March 2017, after this court's decision in
In re Ta.L.
,
Judge Bouchet then held a trial on P.D.J.K.'s adoption petition on May 19, 2017, one of the previously scheduled dates. P.D.J.K. and S.W.'s current CFSA social worker each testified during trial, but J.W. was not present and her counsel did not call any witnesses. After considering "the entire record in this matter" in addition to the testimony presented during the adoption trial, Judge Bouchet found by "clear and convincing evidence" that J.W. was an unfit parent, unable "to meet the daily physical, and mental, and emotional needs of herself, let alone the requirements to meet the needs of the minor child." Judge Bouchet also found that it was in the best interests of S.W. "to be adopted by the petitioner, who she ha[d] resided with for the past two years, and who ha[d] been maintaining and meeting her needs." The court issued a final decree of adoption on July 13, 2017, and J.W. filed a motion for review. Associate Judge Carol Ann Dalton reviewed the record and found that J.W. had not been denied "an impartial and fundamentally fair proceeding" and that Judge Bouchet did not "err or abuse her discretion by granting the adoption petition."
II. Analysis
"We review a trial court's determination in a proceeding to terminate parental rights (TPR) and waive a natural parent's consent to adoption for abuse of discretion."
In re S.L.G.
,
A. Appellant Received a Fair Trial
J.W. first argues that the adoption trial "lacked the appearance of impartiality and fundamental fairness" because Judge Bouchet ruled against her at the end of the
Ta.L
. hearing and then presided over the adoption trial four days later. However, J.W. did not object or ask Judge Bouchet to recuse herself either before or during the adoption trial. Although a "judge may have personal experience with particular parties who have appeared before [her] in previous cases, ... such prior knowledge does not, by itself, generally raise questions about the fairness of a judge."
Mayers v. Mayers
,
Assuming for the sake of argument that appellant has not forfeited this claim, the fact that Judge Bouchet presided over the adoption trial after ruling that the permanency goal should be changed to adoption is, by itself, not enough to establish a lack of impartiality or fundamental fairness. Appellant does not point to a single fact that demonstrates Judge Bouchet was biased against her. Moreover, the District of Columbia Family Court Act of 2001 recognizes the importance of continuity and actually requires that, to the greatest extent practicable, cases involving members of the same family "be assigned to the same judge or magistrate judge."
J.W also claims that the adoption trial was fundamentally unfair because Judge Bouchet "transplanted" testimony from the
Ta.L
. hearing and used it to support her ruling in the adoption trial. Because the two proceedings require different standards of proof, J.W. argues that Judge Bouchet should not have relied so heavily upon the evidence from the
Ta.L
. hearing. However, when terminating parental rights, the trial court may consider relevant facts found in a prior related proceeding where the interested parent was a party and represented by counsel, provided that the decision to terminate parental rights is ultimately based on clear and convincing evidence.
In re J.M.C.
,
Although it is generally proper for a court to take notice of factual findings made in a prior related proceeding, Judge Bouchet merely considered testimony from the Ta.L. hearing as evidence when making her decision on P.D.J.K.'s adoption petition. Judge Bouchet recognized that the two proceedings were separate and clarified that she was not "using the [ Ta.L. ] testimony for purposes of leading in" to the adoption trial; however, "for purposes of judicial economy," she was not going to require the parties to call the "same witnesses" to give "the same testimony" four days later. Judge Bouchet did not transpose any factual findings from the Ta.L . hearing but properly considered the evidence from the Ta.L. hearing in which J.W. was a party and represented by the same counsel. She also explicitly noted both orally and in her written Order that the standard of proof required to grant P.D.J.K.'s adoption petition was "clear and convincing evidence." Thus, Judge Bouchet's use of evidence from the Ta.L . hearing was entirely proper and most certainly was not, as appellant contends, fundamentally unfair.
B. The Magistrate Judge Did Not Abuse Her Discretion
J.W. next argues that the magistrate judge abused her discretion by not allowing J.W.'s counsel to cross-examine P.D.J.K. about J.J.'s incarceration and criminal history. J.W. claims that questions about J.J.'s "childhood and the nature of his upbringing which may have contributed to his apparent disregard for the law" were relevant to P.D.J.K.'s fitness as an adoptive parent. "The extent of cross-examination of a witness with respect to an appropriate subject of inquiry
*1239
is within the sound discretion of the trial court ... [and it] may restrict cross-examination to matters that are probative and relevant."
In re L.D.H.
,
Judge Bouchet considered J.W.'s arguments during the adoption trial and determined that whether or not P.D.J.K.'s "adult son" was incarcerated was not "a direct reflection of her parenting" and thus the court was "not going to draw the connection between the adult decisions of [J.J.] and the petitioner." Although J.W. insists she was not trying to "place blame" on P.D.J.K., she still fails to proffer a good faith basis for believing that J.J.'s incarceration as an adult was a reflection on P.D.J.K.'s parenting.
See
Moreover, the trial court did not completely preclude this line of questioning and gave J.W.'s counsel "reasonable latitude" on the issue of P.D.J.K.'s fitness as an adoptive parent.
See
Du Beau v. Smither & Mayton, Inc.
,
J.W. contends that Judge Bouchet failed to "consider all the contributing factors in their totality" before finding her "unfit to parent" S.W. Although there is a strong presumption that a child's best interest is served by placing her with her natural parent, this presumption may be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence that the parent is unfit.
In re S.L.G.
,
*1240
J.W. also claims that Judge Bouchet improperly waived her consent to the adoption of S.W. by P.D.J.K. Although a petition for adoption generally cannot be granted without consent from both parents, consent may be waived if a parent withholds his or her consent contrary to the best interest of the child.
Finally, J.W. protests Judge Bouchet's decision to grant P.D.J.K.'s adoption petition. A court may enter a final decree of adoption when it is satisfied that the factors set out in
III. Conclusion
The judgment of the Superior Court is hereby
Affirmed .
Reference
- Full Case Name
- In RE PETITION OF P.D.J.K., J.W., Appellant.
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published