Background
After referrals about unsafe and unsanitary conditions in mother A.C.C.’s home, the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services temporarily placed the children with a family friend on multiple occasions. A later unannounced visit found trash, prescription medication, marijuana paraphernalia, cleaning supplies, knives, cat litter, and cockroaches in the home. The Department obtained temporary custody and filed a dependency-or-neglect petition.
Mother entered a deferred adjudication based on a no-fault admission. Her treatment plan required her to maintain a safe, reasonably tidy, and clean residence, including regularly disposing of trash. Eleven months later, the Department moved to revoke the deferred adjudication for noncompliance. Following a contested hearing, the juvenile court granted the motion and adjudicated the children dependent or neglected.
The Court’s Holding
The Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed. The juvenile court’s finding that mother had not complied with the safe-and-clean-housing objective was supported by the record, including the caseworker’s testimony that the home remained in disarray, with trash, dirty dishes, dirty clothes, and accessible prescription medication and marijuana throughout the apartment.
The court rejected mother’s argument that prior compliance for more than ninety days satisfied the treatment plan. Read as a whole, the deferred-adjudication agreement required mother to demonstrate a continuing ability to maintain a safe, sanitary home at the time compliance was assessed; earlier success did not preclude revocation when the condition had deteriorated. The appellate court also deferred to the juvenile court’s credibility determinations and resolution of conflicting evidence.
Key Takeaways
- A deferred adjudication may be revoked when the evidence supports a finding that a parent is not currently complying with a treatment-plan objective.
- A requirement to maintain a condition for “at least 90 days” does not necessarily make earlier 90-day compliance permanently dispositive.
- Appellate courts do not reweigh evidence or revisit the juvenile court’s credibility findings when the record supports its decision.
Why It Matters
The decision confirms that treatment-plan compliance in dependency-and-neglect cases is evaluated in light of the plan’s child-safety purpose and the parent’s continuing ability to provide a safe home. A parent’s past progress does not bar an adjudication when supported findings show that the relevant conditions are no longer being maintained.