In Re: R.S.

Summary

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals affirmed the termination of a grandfather’s custodial rights to R.S. in an abuse and neglect proceeding. The court held that the grandfather’s prior sexual abuse of two older children constituted aggravated circumstances and supported termination without requiring rehabilitative services.

Holdings

1. Under West Virginia Code § 49-6-5(a)(7)(A), a parent's sexual abuse of another child constitutes an aggravated circumstance and the DHHR is not required to offer rehabilitative or reunification services when the parent has subjected another child to sexual abuse.
2. The circuit court properly terminated B.S.'s custodial rights because substantial evidence supported its findings that B.S. could not substantially correct the conditions of abuse in the near future and that termination was necessary for R.S.'s welfare.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the circuit court erred by relying on B.S.'s prior sexual abuse of his now-adult children as a basis for terminating his custodial rights to R.S., despite the remoteness of that abuse and the absence of an allegation that B.S. sexually abused R.S.
2. Whether the circuit court's findings that B.S. could not substantially correct the conditions of abuse in the near future and that termination was necessary for R.S.'s welfare were supported by the evidence.

Disposition

affirmed