Background
After the children’s siblings were hospitalized with malnourishment and multiple bodily injuries, the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services filed a dependency-and-neglect petition concerning R.B. and R.B., Jr. A jury adjudicated the children dependent or neglected.
The juvenile court later found that no appropriate treatment plan could be devised for either parent because a sibling had suffered serious bodily injury or death resulting from parental abuse or neglect. It then terminated mother J.M.’s and father R.B.’s parent-child legal relationships.
The Court’s Holding
The Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed. Following a limited remand, the juvenile court found that California had declined jurisdiction and that Colorado had subject matter jurisdiction under the UCCJEA. Both parents accepted that conclusion on appeal.
The court held that the termination was under section 19-3-604(1)(b)(IV), not section 19-3-604(1)(c). Thus, reasonable-efforts findings and the elimination of less-drastic alternatives were not required elements of the termination judgment. Although the record did not support the juvenile court’s reasonable-efforts finding as to mother, the error was harmless. The court also declined to consider mother’s juror-for-cause challenge because she did not timely appeal the adjudicatory order.
Key Takeaways
- Termination under section 19-3-604(1)(b)(IV) may rest on an adjudication, the inability to devise an appropriate treatment plan, and parental unfitness tied to serious injury or death of a sibling from proven abuse or neglect.
- Reasonable efforts and less-drastic alternatives are not required termination findings under that statutory ground.
- An appeal challenging an adjudicatory ruling must be timely filed after the dispositional order; it cannot ordinarily be raised for the first time in an appeal from termination.
Why It Matters
The decision distinguishes the statutory prerequisites for termination based on the inability to devise a treatment plan from those governing treatment-plan-based termination. It also underscores that an unsupported finding will not require reversal when it was unnecessary to the judgment.