In re D.S. and W.S., Juveniles

Summary

The Vermont Supreme Court reversed judgments terminating both parents' parental rights to D.S. and W.S. The court held that the finding of maternal stagnation was premature because reunification services were curtailed before the case-plan timeframe and while the mother was showing progress. It also held that the findings and evidence were insufficient to establish that termination of the father's parental rights was in the children's best interests.

Holdings

1. The finding that mother's failure to progress amounted to stagnation was unsupported because DCF prematurely shifted from a concurrent reunification-and-adoption goal to an adoption-only goal before the timeframe contemplated in the approved case plan, while the evidence showed recent progress and service or staffing changes that inhibited further progress.
2. The family court's findings were insufficient to establish by clear and convincing evidence that termination of father's parental rights was in the children's best interests.
3. The court did not reach father's remaining due-process claims because reversal on the other grounds made them unnecessary to resolve.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the family court properly found that mother's ability to parent had stagnated when DCF shifted prematurely to an adoption-only goal and discontinued or altered services before the reunification timeframe in the case plan.
2. Whether the evidence clearly and convincingly established that termination of father's parental rights was in the children's best interests, including whether the family court adequately considered father individually.
3. Whether father's remaining due-process claims required reversal.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded