Marian V. v. Alaska, DHSS, OCS

In 2015 the Office of Children’s Services (OCS) took custody of three children due to the father’s substance abuse issues and the mother’s mental health issues. Both parents failed to make any meaningful progress on their case plans in the first year of OCS’s custody. But after moving to Washington in 2016, the parents made significant progress and actively engaged in a variety of services. At the time of the termination trial the father had been sober for two years, but OCS still had concerns regarding the mother’s ability to manage her mental health and the parents’ ability to safely co-parent all of their children at the same time. In June 2018 the superior court terminated the parents’ rights to their three children. The parents appealed, arguing the superior court erred by finding they failed to remedy the conduct that made their children in need of aid. They also argued that the court erred by finding that termination of their parental rights was in their children’s best interests. And the father independently argued the court erred by finding that OCS made reasonable efforts to reunite him with his children. The Alaska Supreme Court concluded the superior court’s finding that the father failed to remedy his conduct was clearly erroneous, and reversed termination of his parental rights. Because the Court's resolution of the father’s parental rights could alter the superior court’s best interests analysis with regard to the mother, the Supreme Court vacated termination of the mother’s parental rights and remanded this case for further proceedings. View "Marian V. v. Alaska, DHSS, OCS" on Justia Law