In the Interest of Y.V., A ChildAppeal from 323rd District Court of Tarrant County (Memorandum Opinion )

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State: Texas

Court: Texas Northern District Court

Docket No: 02-12-00514-CV

Case Date: 06/13/2013

Preview:COURT OF APPEALS
SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS FORT WORTH

NO. 02-12-00514-CV

IN THE INTEREST OF Y.V., A CHILD

---------FROM THE 323RD DISTRICT COURT OF TARRANT COUNTY ----------

MEMORANDUM OPINION1
---------I. INTRODUCTION Following a bench trial, the trial court signed an order terminating appellants Father's and Mother`s parental rights to their daughter, Y.V., and appointing the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services

(Department) as Y.V.`s permanent managing conservator.

In his sole issue,

Father argues that the trial court erred by appointing the Department as Y.V.`s

1

See Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.

managing conservator. In her sole issue, Mother argues that termination of her parental rights to Y.V. was not in Y.V.`s best interest. We will affirm. II. BACKGROUND On July 29, 2011, an ambulance drove Y.V., who at the time was nine months old, to Cook Children`s Medical Center after she reportedly fell off of Mother`s bed. The Medical Center`s doctors determined that Y.V. had a subdural hematoma, a skull fracture, and retinal hemorrhaging. According to doctors, the injuries could not have been the result of an accident or fall; rather, the diagnosis was that Y.V. had either been shaken severely, or she had been shaken severely as her head impacted a hard surface, causing the injuries. After an investigation revealed that the only people who had been with Y.V. the day she was taken to the hospital were Mother, Father, and a sibling, coupled with evidence indicating that Mother had physically abused Y.V., the Department placed Y.V. in foster care on August 9, 2011. The Department then sought the termination of

Mother`s and Father`s parental rights. At the conclusion of trial on September 5, 2012, Y.V. remained in foster care. During the trial proceedings, both Mother and Father requested that the trial court appoint Y.V.`s paternal aunts as Y.V.`s possessory managing conservators. After hearing testimony by the Department`s witnesses, Y.V.`s

doctor, Mother, and Father, the trial court entered an order terminating Mother`s and Father`s parental rights to Y.V. In the order, the trial court determined that Mother and Father had knowingly placed or knowingly allowed Y.V. to remain in 2

conditions or surroundings that endangered Y.V.`s physical and emotional wellbeing; that Mother and Father had engaged in conduct or knowingly placed Y.V. with persons who engaged in conduct that endangered Y.V.`s physical or emotional well-being; that Mother and Father both failed to comply with the provisions of a court order that specifically established the actions necessary for both to obtain the return of Y.V.; and that termination of Mother`s and Father`s parental rights were in Y.V.`s best interest. The trial court also appointed the Department as Y.V.`s permanent managing conservator. This appeal followed. III. DISCUSSION A. Father Lacks Standing to Challenge Conservatorship

In his sole issue, Father argues that there was no evidence or insufficient evidence to support the trial court`s appointing the Department as Y.V.`s managing conservator. But because Father did not appeal the trial court`s

findings terminating his parental relationship to Y.V., he is bound by those findings. Father has thus become a former parent with no legal rights with

respect to Y.V. See Tex. Fam. Code Ann.

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