Appeals court hears challenge to termination of parental rights over ADA and reasonable-efforts claims

The Massachusetts Appeals Court heard oral argument Feb. 3 in Department of Children and Families v. Mother, an appeal of a juvenile court order terminating a mother—s parental rights to her two young children.

Attorney Amy Perry Mercier, arguing for the mother, told the panel the Department of Children and Families (DCF) assumed the mother could not parent because of her mental-health diagnoses and failed to provide required assessments, accommodations or reasonable efforts under federal disability law and DCF policy. "This case is about a mother with mental health challenges who was never given the opportunity to parent," Mercier said. "They failed to follow both the federal disability law and their own regulations and policies, and they failed to provide mother reasonable efforts and accommodations."

Mercier said an initial ADA meeting and a brief neuropsychological evaluation occurred but that DCF never completed an individualized assessment or followed through on recommended evaluations. She noted a parenting partner assigned to the mother lasted eight sessions and said the mother filed a…