In re K.D.-1, K.D.-2, J.J.-1, J.J.-2, and L.J.

Summary

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals affirmed the termination of petitioner mother M.D.’s parental rights to five children. The court held that she failed to demonstrate a substantial change in circumstances warranting a post-dispositional improvement period and that the record supported findings that the conditions of abuse and neglect were unlikely to be substantially corrected in the near future.

Holdings

1. A parent who has previously received an improvement period must demonstrate a substantial change in circumstances since the initial improvement period and show that, because of that change, the parent is likely to fully participate in a post-dispositional improvement period. Mother failed to make that showing, so the circuit court properly denied her request.
2. Termination of Mother's parental rights was proper because the evidence supported findings that there was no reasonable likelihood that the conditions of abuse and neglect could be substantially corrected in the near future and that termination was in the children's best interests.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the circuit court abused its discretion by denying Mother's request for a post-dispositional improvement period after she had previously received an improvement period.
2. Whether the circuit court properly terminated Mother's parental rights based on the absence of a reasonable likelihood that the conditions of abuse and neglect could be substantially corrected in the near future and the children's best interests.

Disposition

affirmed