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STATE OF MICHIGAN COURT OF APPEALS
In the Matter of CRYSTAL ELANE SACKETT and TORI R SACKETT, Minors.

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Petitioner-Appellee, v WILLIAM A SACKETT, Respondent-Appellant.

UNPUBLISHED December 17, 2009

No. 291676 Mecosta Circuit Court Juvenile Division LC No. 07-005202-NA

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Petitioner-Appellee, v CHARITY MATHEWS, Respondent-Appellant. No. 291678 Mecosta Circuit Court Juvenile Division LC No. 07-005202-NA

Before: Talbot, P.J., and O'Connell and Davis, JJ. MEMORANDUM. In these consolidated appeals, father William Sackett and mother Charity Mathews appeal as of right an order terminating their parental rights to the minor children. We affirm. In termination cases, we review the trial court's findings of fact for clear error. In re BZ, 264 Mich App 286, 296; 690 NW2d 505 (2004). In general, a trial court's conclusions of law are reviewed de novo. Chapdelaine v Sochocki, 247 Mich App 167, 169; 635 NW2d 339 (2001). Ultimately, however, we will not disturb a lower court's order unless "failure to do so would be inconsistent with substantial justice." In re TC, 251 Mich App 368, 370-371; 650 NW2d 698 (2002), citing MCR 2.613(A). The children came to the attention of the Department of Human Services when the parents were arrested for sexually assaulting two girls who had been babysitting the children. -1-

The children were approximately one and two years old at the time. At a preliminary examination involving the babysitters, one of the victims testified fairly graphically about assaults that occurred that evening. She was thirteen years old at the time of the incident, and the other victim, who did not testify, was twelve. Suffice to say that the trial court accurately summarized that "William Sackett and Charity Mathews sexually molested two unrelated minor children while [the children at issue] were present in the home." Sackett and Mathews also provided alcohol to the babysitters. Child sexually abusive material was found on the parents' computer. Sackett and Mathews were nevertheless allowed a plea agreement under which they pleaded guilty to gross indecency, MCL 750.338b. The children who are the object of this appeal, meanwhile, were placed with the father's sister. As the trial court found, the children initially displayed compelling

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