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Appeals from Mobile Juvenile Court (JU-13-469.04 and
JU-13-470.05)
Kent
Baxley , Mobile, for appellant.
Steve
Marshall , atty. gen., and Karen P. Phillips , asst. atty.
gen., Department of Human Resources, for appellee.
PER
CURIAM.
P.L.G.
("the mother) separately appeals from two judgments of
the Mobile Juvenile Court ("the juvenile court")
terminating her parental rights to S.L.G. and C.I.G.
("the children"), respectively. We reverse the
judgments and remand the causes with instructions to the
juvenile court.
Facts
and Procedural History
The
children are twins and were born to the mother in September
2012. On December 5, 2017, the Mobile County Department of
Human Resources ("DHR") filed separate petitions in
the juvenile court seeking judgments terminating the parental
rights of the mother and C.L.O. ("the father") to
the children. In the petitions, DHR alleged, among other
things, that the father's location was unknown; that the
children were dependent and had been in
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the custody of DHR since October 2016; that the parents had
abandoned and neglected the children; that the mother has
"untreated mental health issues that prevent [her] from
providing adequate care for the child[ren]"; and that
efforts by DHR to rehabilitate the mother had been
unsuccessful. Separate counsel were appointed to represent
the mother and the father. The father was served by
publication.
A trial
was held in the juvenile court on March 22, 2018, and April
3, 2018. The father was represented by counsel but did not
attend the trial. Testimony was presented from a
psychologist, a mental-health and substance-abuse therapist,
DHR caseworkers, and the mother.
On July
19, 2018, judgments rendered by the juvenile court on July 6,
2018, were entered in each case. The judgments were
substantially identical except for specific references to
each child, and provided, in part:
"6. The Court finds that the mother has failed to modify
her circumstances to meet the needs of the children since the
finding of dependency. The Court finds that the mother has
recently made improvements in her circumstances, but that by
failing to participate in any meaningful manner starting in
July of 2017, she has[, as] of this time[,] failed to put
herself in a position where she can care for the child[ren].
From the psychological evidence that was presented, the Court
finds it unlikely that the mother will be able to follow
through, in high stress situations, to deal with the
child[ren].
"7. There is no known relative willing or able to take
the care, custody, and control of the child[ren].
"8. Termination of parental rights is in the best
interest of the child[ren] to promote permanency.
"9. [DHR] made all reasonable efforts to finalize the
plan of adoption after the same was accepted by the court.
"10. The Court finds [DHR] made all reasonable efforts
to promote reunification but that said efforts failed in
large part due to the failure of the mother to consistently
follow the ...