Barbara P., Appellant v. State of Alaska, Department of Health & Social Services, Office of Children's Services…

Summary

The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed the termination of Barbara's and Leo's parental rights to their children Michael and Gary. It held that the superior court did not abuse its discretion in admitting a psychologist's testimony based on a two-year-old evaluation, that clear and convincing evidence supported findings that the children were in need of aid based on domestic violence, substance abuse, and the mother's untreated mental illness, and that the mother's formal compliance with her case plan did not compel a finding that she had remedied the conditions placing the children at risk. The court also upheld the reasonable-efforts finding despite OCS's failure to arrange visitation for the incarcerated father, and confirmed that termination served the children's need for permanency. In doing so, the court clarified that a parent's failure to remedy is generally a factual finding reviewed only for clear error.