Background
In March 2023, the West Virginia Department of Human Services filed an abuse and neglect petition against both parents of three children, including two with special needs. The petition alleged domestic violence committed in the children’s presence and chronic failure to supervise the children, two of whom had repeatedly left the home unattended. The mother separately pleaded guilty to DUI with the children in the vehicle. At the May 2023 adjudicatory hearing, both parents stipulated to the allegations, and the circuit court adjudicated them as abusing and neglecting parents. Both were given post-adjudicatory improvement periods, which were later extended, and the children were ultimately returned to the home in June 2024 following a post-dispositional improvement period.
Reunification proved short-lived. In September 2024, then-eight-year-old C.E.—a child with special needs—was found by a bystander half a mile from the home, wearing only a t-shirt and underwear, while the father was unaware of the child’s whereabouts. The father also did not know where then-two-year-old B.E. was at the time; the toddler was found unsupervised in the backyard. Following this incident, the father repeatedly tested positive for marijuana and once for methamphetamine, which he denied, claiming his positive screens resulted from CBD product use. In December 2024, the DHS filed an amended petition, and in February 2025 the circuit court adjudicated the father of neglect based in part on substance abuse, finding his denials not credible.
At the April 2025 dispositional hearing, evidence further showed that the father had never participated in domestic violence therapy or couples’ therapy as required by the family case plan, declined offered substance abuse services, and continued to deny that either his supervision failures or his substance abuse posed any risk to the children. The circuit court found no reasonable likelihood that the father could correct the conditions of abuse and neglect within a reasonable time, determined that termination served the children’s best interests, and entered an order terminating his parental rights. The mother had separately relinquished her custodial rights voluntarily. The children’s permanency plan is legal guardianship with their current kinship placement.
The Court’s Holding
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia unanimously affirmed the circuit court’s July 15, 2025, termination order. The court held that termination of parental rights may be imposed without resort to less restrictive alternatives when there is no reasonable likelihood that conditions of abuse or neglect can be substantially corrected, citing Syllabus Point 5 of In re Kristin Y., 227 W. Va. 558, 712 S.E.2d 55 (2011). The court found the record amply supported both statutory grounds for that finding under West Virginia Code § 49-4-604(d): habitual substance abuse seriously impairing parenting with no response to recommended treatment, and failure to follow through with rehabilitative efforts as evidenced by continuation of the neglectful conditions.
The court emphasized that the father’s persistent denial of any wrongdoing—both as to supervision failures and substance abuse—rendered his problems untreatable, relying on In re Timber M., 231 W. Va. 44, 743 S.E.2d 352 (2013), for the principle that a parent’s refusal to acknowledge abuse or neglect makes the underlying problem untreatable. Despite having received two improvement periods, reunification with the children, and offered services, the father allowed another dangerous elopement, accumulated multiple positive drug screens, and declined substance abuse treatment. The court concluded the circuit court committed no clear error in its factual findings and no legal error in its conclusions.
Key Takeaways
- Under West Virginia law, termination of parental rights requires no less restrictive alternative when the circuit court finds no reasonable likelihood that conditions of abuse or neglect can be substantially corrected within a reasonable time.
- A parent’s consistent denial of abuse or neglect allegations and refusal to engage with offered remedial services renders the underlying problems untreatable, supporting termination under W. Va. Code § 49-4-604(d).
- Recurrence of the same neglectful conditions—here, a child with special needs eloping from the home—after reunification and extended improvement periods strongly supports a finding of no reasonable likelihood of correction.
- Appellate review of circuit court abuse and neglect orders applies a clear error standard to factual findings and de novo review to conclusions of law.
Why It Matters
This decision reinforces that West Virginia courts will not indefinitely extend improvement periods or pursue less restrictive alternatives when a parent demonstrates both an unwillingness to acknowledge the conditions of neglect and a refusal to participate in court-ordered or offered services. For practitioners, the case illustrates that a parent’s credibility at dispositional hearings—and their candid engagement with the underlying problems—can be decisive: the circuit court’s credibility finding against the father carried significant weight on appeal.
The opinion also underscores the particular vulnerability of children with special needs in supervision-failure cases. The father’s repeated inability to prevent a child with special needs from eloping into traffic conditions, even after the installation of security measures and multiple opportunities to remediate, provided a concrete factual basis for the court’s conclusion that the children’s health, welfare, and safety required termination rather than any further rehabilitative attempt.