In re Arturo G.

Summary

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the termination of both parents’ parental rights to Arturo G. The court held that the evidence supported the father’s unfitness finding, that denying his motions to continue the termination hearing did not violate due process, and that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the mother’s drug-test results under an agreed jeopardy-order provision.

Holdings

1. The evidence was sufficient to support the District Court's finding that the father was unfit because he was unwilling or unable to protect Arturo from jeopardy, was unlikely to change within a time reasonably calculated to meet the child's needs, and failed to take responsibility and make a good-faith effort to rehabilitate and reunify.
2. The District Court did not deprive the father of due process or abuse its discretion by denying his motions to continue the termination hearing.
3. The District Court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the mother's drug-test results because the agreed jeopardy order waived hearsay objections to drug-test results obtained through substance-abuse providers engaged as part of reunification efforts.

Questions Presented

1. Whether clear and convincing evidence supported the District Court's finding that the father was an unfit parent under 22 M.R.S. § 4055.
2. Whether denial of the father's motions to continue the termination hearing deprived him of due process or constituted an abuse of discretion.
3. Whether the District Court properly admitted the mother's drug-test results under the admissibility provision in the parties' agreed jeopardy order.

Disposition

affirmed