State of Utah, in the Interest of K.f., a Person Under Eighteen Years of Age. A.o. v. State of Utah

Summary

The Utah Supreme Court affirmed a juvenile court order terminating reunification services and changing twelve-year-old K.F.'s permanency goal from reunification with her mother to individualized permanency (long-term foster care) with a secondary goal of custody and guardianship. The court held the juvenile court had subject matter jurisdiction because the mother stipulated to the petition's supporting facts and voluntarily placed K.F. in state custody; that an individualized permanency order is final and appealable where the court rules out reunification, adoption, guardianship, and kinship placements and articulates a compelling reason; that sufficient evidence supported the findings that the mother failed to comply with her service plan and that DCFS made reasonable reunification efforts; and that the mother lost the parental presumption by voluntarily placing K.F. in state custody. The court also reaffirmed 438 Main Street v. Easy Heat, Inc., holding that challenges to the adequacy of a trial court's findings must be preserved below, and dismissed the mother's unpreserved adequacy-of-findings challenge without reaching its substance.