Dept. of Human Services v. R.B.

A juvenile court may change a child permanency plan when its original jurisdictional judgment would put a reasonable parent on notice that the bases for the that decision would be used in a change of permanency plan.

Defendant RB appealed the Juvenile Court’s permanency plan for her two daughters and its assumption of jurisdiction. The mother’s two children were placed in protective custody with the juvenile court in September of 2011. The original permanency plan called for reunification, but, upon determination that RB had not made enough progress to ensure safety of the children, the juvenile court changed the plan to adoption. RB argued on appeal that there was insufficient evidence to support this finding, and also that new allegations were made against her (involving mental and emotional illnesses) that were never proved by DHS. The Court determined that the allegations of mental illnesses could be implied from the court’s original judgment, and that, under a preponderance of the evidence standard, DHS’s evidence was legally sufficient to show that RB had not made sufficient progress to return the children. Affirmed.