Judge expands visitation, orders weekly drug testing in Lenawee County permanency review

The Lenawee County Probate & Juvenile Court on Oct. 19 held a permanency planning and second-review hearing for two children in foster care and left reunification as the permanency goal while expanding parenting time and ordering increased drug testing for the mother.

Presiding Judge (title listed in the record as the court) said the court would “grant request to expand visitation to include unsupervised” parenting time and ordered weekly drug screening for the mother as an accountability measure. The judge set a 90-day review for Jan. 20 at 11 a.m., found the child welfare agency in compliance with its obligations, and directed that the children remain in their current family placement.

The hearing combined case updates, testimony from a foster-care supervisor and a therapist, and argument by attorneys for both parents. Ashley Beach, a foster care supervisor for Foster Edge Solutions standing in for the assigned foster-care specialist, told the court that the father, identified in court as Mr. Long, had complied with his case plan, maintained stable housing and employment, completed supportive visitation, and engaged in individual therapy. Beach recommended that the agency be given discretion to begin some unsupervised parenting time for the father.

Michelle Ford, a therapist with CenterPoint Counseling who treats both parents and one child, said she had observed “a definite improvement” in the mother’s ability to regulate emotions and that both parents had been participating consistently in therapy. Ford recommended a psychiatric evaluation for the mother to evaluate attention-deficit symptoms and possible medication management and supported phased unsupervised visitation for both parents.

Court reports and exhibits were offered and admitted into the record at the request of the agency. The foster-care report packet included a case service plan, supportive visitation records from Orchard (the supportive visitation program), weekly progress notes and drug-screen records. The supportive visitation program was described as a 16-week course; both parents completed pre- and post-testing and the termination report showed overall gains on several measures, the court record shows.

Members of the court and attorneys also addressed inconsistent drug-screen results in the mother’s treatment records. Records from Trinity Health received by the agency on Oct. 16–17 included two positive screens during the reporting period: one for morphine on May 29 and one for oxycodone on July 28; benzodiazepines were also detected but the mother holds a prescription for clonazepam. The mother told the court she had been taking Suboxone through Trinity Health and had been tested weekly at the clinic since the last family-team meeting. She told the court she has provided releases so her primary-care provider and Trinity Health can coordinate care.

The mother, Robin Hardy, also testified that she was arrested in August after an emotional incident at a Walmart and said the children were in the car at the time “not knowing what was going on.” No criminal charges remained pending, she said.

After hearing testimony and argument, the court ordered the following: admission of the submitted reports into the file; continuation of the permanency goal of reunification; phased expansion of parenting time to permit unsupervised visits at the agency’s discretion, beginning slowly and monitoring for concerns; weekly drug screening for the mother with no specific testing modality mandated (the court left the choice of urine or forensic testing to the agency’s convenience); and a 90-day review scheduled for Jan. 20 at 11 a.m.

In announcing the orders, the court commented that both parents were “actively engaged on the upswing and benefit from these services,” thanked the guardian ad litem and advocates for compliance with their obligations, and said the agency remained in compliance with its duties.

The hearing record shows the children are placed in a family setting and that the guardian ad litem reported the placement is meeting the children’s needs. The agency asked that the court continue reunification as the permanency plan and be given discretion to expand unsupervised parenting time as reports remain positive; the court agreed.

The court asked the parties to return for review in three months to assess continued progress and sobriety and to report on the results of weekly drug testing and any psychiatric evaluation recommended for the mother.