Georgia Court Case: In the Interest of D.A.P.

IN THE INTEREST OF D. A. P. et al., children. 

COURT OF APPEALS OF GEORGIA 

234 Ga. App. 257; 506 S.E.2d 438 

September 8, 1998, Decided 



Termination of parental rights. Chatham Juvenile Court. Before Judge Beam. 

Judgment affirmed. 

COUNSEL:
Darden & Moyers, Andrea S. Moyers, for appellant.

Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Dennis R. Dunn, William C. Joy, Senior Assistant Attorneys General, Shalen A. Sgrosso, Stephanie M. Baldauff, Assistant Attorneys General, Leo G.Beckmann, Jr., for appellee. 

JUDGES:
SMITH, Judge. Johnson, P. J., and Senior Appellate Judge Harold R. Banke concur. 

SMITH, Judge.
The biological father of D. A. P., who is also the "legal" father of M. W. P. and S. L. W., appeals from the order of the Chatham County Juvenile Court terminating his parental rights as to all three children. n1 We find no error and affirm. 

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n1 The father originally filed his appeal in the Supreme Court, and the State filed a motion to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. The Supreme Court denied the motion to dismiss and transferred the case to this Court. 

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These children, aged thirteen, eight, and five at the time of the termination hearing, have been in the temporary legal custody of the Chatham County Department of Family & Children Services (DFACS) since 1993, when they were first adjudicated as deprived. n2 Their mother has been in and out of substance abuse treatment and detoxification facilities for many years. The youngest child was born cocaine positive, the mother having used cocaine during her pregnancy. In 1992, the mother was separated from appellant but still married to him. She and the biological father of the younger children (the "other father"), along with the children, were living in a homeless shelter. The mother released all three children into foster care for a 90-day period in February 1993 so that she could enter detoxification and drug treatment. But in May 1993, the mother was still homeless and on drugs, and DFACS filed a petition requesting temporary custody for two years, which was granted.

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n2 An older child was not included in these proceedings. She was voluntarily placed in the home of an elderly woman by her parents in 1987, after she accused appellant of sexually abusing her. 

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