In Re Term of Parental Rights as to M.W.

NOTICE: NOT FOR OFFICIAL PUBLICATION.
UNDER ARIZONA RULE OF THE SUPREME COURT 111(c), THIS DECISION IS NOT PRECEDENTIAL
AND MAY BE CITED ONLY AS AUTHORIZED BY RULE.

IN THE
ARIZONA COURT OF APPEALS
DIVISION ONE

IN RE TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS AS TO M.W.

No. 1 CA-JV 25-0042

FILED 10-22-2025

Appeal from the Superior Court in Mohave County
S8015JD202200138
The Honorable Rick A. Williams, Judge

AFFIRMED

COUNSEL

Shannon D., Mohave Valley
Appellant

The Law Offices of Robert Casey, Phoenix
By Robert I. Casey
Advisory Counsel for Appellant

Arizona Attorney General’s Office, Phoenix
By Autumn Spritzer
Counsel for Appellee
 IN RE TERM OF PARENTAL RIGHTS AS TO M.W.
Decision of the Court

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Judge Cynthia J. Bailey delivered the decision of the Court, in which
Presiding Judge Jennifer M. Perkins and Vice Chief Judge David D.
Weinzweig joined.

B A I L E Y, Judge:

¶1 Shannon D. (“Mother”) appeals the superior court’s order
terminating her parental rights as to M.W. (“Child”) on the statutory
ground of fifteen months’ out-of-home placement. See Ariz. Rev. Stat.
(“A.R.S.”) § 8-533(B)(8)(c). For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶2 We view the facts in the light most favorable to upholding the
superior court’s order. Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec. v. Matthew L., 223 Ariz. 547,
549, ¶ 7 (App. 2010).

¶3 Mother is the biological parent of Child, who was born in
October 2022.1 Mother was incarcerated when she discovered she was
pregnant with Child. Soon after her release, Mother met with friends who
were using methamphetamines, and when Child was born, Mother and
Child tested positive for methamphetamines. Mother disclosed she had
used methamphetamines two days before Child’s birth.

¶4 The Department of Child Safety (“DCS”) asked Mother about
her plan for caring for Child. Mother stated she wanted to have Child stay
with a “friend” she met while incarcerated but could provide no address or
contact information for this friend. DCS filed a dependency petition within
a week after Child was born, and the court found Child dependent as to
Mother. DCS first located a kinship placement, where Child resided until
moving to his current placement, which was established as the least
restrictive option.

¶5 During the dependency, DCS referred Mother to several
treatment services for her substance abuse and parenting skills issues.

1 Child’s alleged biological father, Derrick W., is not a party to this appeal,

but his parental rights as to Child were terminated in December 2023.

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Initially, Mother did not fully engage in services and missed several drug
tests. Her referrals eventually closed out based on lack of participation.

¶6 In 2023, Mother began engaging in parenting skills and
substance abuse services. She participated in drug testing between 2023
and 2025, and although she tested negative every time she participated, she
also missed a significant number of test dates. Mother also engaged in
weekly supervised visits with Child throughout the nearly three years of
his out-of-home placement. But Mother never asked for unsupervised
visits, ostensibly because DCS had expressed safety concerns about her
boyfriend, Tyler G.

¶7 Mother met Tyler G. in March 2022, when she was pregnant
with Child. They began a romantic relationship and moved in together four
months later. DCS identified Tyler G. as a safety risk to Child due to his
illegal drug use and extensive criminal history. DCS further expressed
concern over his unwillingness to engage in drug treatment and parenting
skills services. DCS made Mother aware that her relationship with Tyler G.
made unsupervised visits impossible and effectively foreclosed Mother
from regaining custody of Child. Despite these concerns, Mother continued
the relationship, becoming pregnant with Tyler G.’s child in early 2024 and
signing a one-year lease with him in June 2024. In January 2025, Tyler G.
was sentenced to 1.5 years’ imprisonment. The superior court found
Mother “kind of double[d] down by getting pregnant by [Tyler G.] and
being in a committed relationship with him” while disregarding that the
relationship prevented Child from returning home.

¶8 In September 2024, the superior court granted DCS’s oral
motion for a change in case plan to severance and adoption, and DCS
moved to terminate Mother’s parental rights based on the fifteen months’
out-of-home placement ground. See A.R.S. § 8-533(B)(8)(c). In February
2025, the superior court held the termination trial, and after taking the
matter under advisement, terminated Mother’s parental rights.

¶9 Mother timely appealed. We have jurisdiction under A.R.S.
§§ 8-235(A), 12-120.21(A)(1), and 12-2101(A)(1).

DISCUSSION

¶10 We note first that Mother has waived her arguments on
appeal because she offered no record citations or supporting legal
authorities in her brief. See Arizona Rule of Civil Appellate Procedure
(“ARCAP”) 13(a) (requiring that briefs contain “citations of legal
authorities and appropriate references to the portions of the record on

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which the appellant relies”); Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 607(b) (applying ARCAP 13
to juvenile appeals). But we exercise our discretion to address Mother’s
arguments because a child’s best interests are at issue. DeLong v. Merrill, 233 Ariz. 163, 166, ¶ 9 (App. 2013); Nold v. Nold, 232 Ariz. 270, 273, ¶ 10
(App. 2013) (noting that the child’s best interests trump the discretionary
doctrine of waiver).

¶11 To terminate parental rights, the superior court must find a
statutory ground under A.R.S. § 8-533(B) by clear and convincing evidence,
and that termination is in the child’s best interests by a preponderance of
the evidence. Alma S. v. Dep't of Child Safety, 245 Ariz. 146, 149–50, ¶ 8
(2018).

¶12 We review the superior court’s termination order for an abuse
of discretion. Mary Lou C. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec., 207 Ariz. 43, 47, ¶ 8
(App. 2004). Because the superior court “is in the best position to weigh the
evidence, observe the parties, judge the credibility of witnesses, and resolve
disputed facts,” we will affirm an order terminating parental rights if
supported by reasonable evidence. Jordan C. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec., 223
Ariz. 86, 93, ¶ 18 (App. 2009) (citations omitted).

I. Fifteen Months’ Out-of-Home Placement Ground

¶13 The superior court may terminate parental rights under the
fifteen months’ out-of-home placement ground if it finds by clear and
convincing evidence that (1) the child has been in an out-of-home
placement for at least fifteen months; (2) DCS has made a diligent effort to
provide appropriate reunification services; (3) the parent has been unable
to remedy the circumstances that caused the out-of-home placement; and
(4) “there is a substantial likelihood that the parent will not be capable of
exercising proper and effective parental care and control in the near future.”
A.R.S. § 8-533(B)(8)(c). The “circumstances” are those “existing at the time
of the severance that prevent a parent from being able to appropriately
provide for his or her child.” Jordan C., 223 Ariz. at 96, ¶ 31 n.14 (citation
modified).

¶14 Mother does not contest the court’s finding on the first two
out-of-home placement factors, but does contest the last two: that she has
been unable to remedy the circumstances that caused the out-of-home
placement, and that there is a substantial likelihood she will be incapable of
exercising proper and effective parental care and control in the near future.
In support, Mother cites her negative drug tests before trial and her
completion of parenting and substance abuse classes. She contends she has

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an appropriate place for Child to live, has an appropriate way to provide
for Child, and has resolved DCS’s primary safety concern as Tyler G. is no
longer in the home.

¶15 Despite Mother’s efforts, Child has been out of her care for
almost three years. Child was initially found dependent as to Mother due
to her drug abuse and failure to provide a safe living option for Child, as
evidenced by her suggestion that Child live with a formerly incarcerated
“friend.” And while Mother has, at least in part, remedied her drug issues
and improved her parenting skills, she has continued to put Child in
situations that raised safety concerns. Despite that Mother knew DCS
considered Tyler G. a safety barrier to reunification with Child, she refused
to end the relationship.

¶16 Mother contends the safety concern with Tyler G. is resolved,
and argues that she is not reliant on him and will protect Child if Tyler G.
does not “keep his act together.” But DCS’s concern was only temporarily
“remedied” at the time of trial because Tyler G. became incarcerated.
Mother recently had a child with Tyler G., his name is on her current lease,
she is still dependent, in part, on money from him for her basic living
expenses, and their lengthy relationship shows Mother’s unwillingness to
put Child before him. Further, although Mother had an option to move to
Maricopa County to be closer to Child and additional support during the
dependency, she chose to stay in Mohave Valley to live with Tyler G. See
Alma S., 245 Ariz. at 152, ¶ 19 (“Even if the Court accepts Mother is being honest
and she is no longer in a relationship with Father, it is literally too little too
late to demonstrate that she is willing to protect her children from an
abusive person.”). On this record, Mother has not shown that she has fully
remedied the circumstances that caused the out-of-home placement,
particularly as to Child’s safe living conditions. The court, therefore, did
not abuse its discretion by concluding that a substantial likelihood exists
that she will not be capable of exercising proper and effective parental care
and control in the near future.

¶17 Mother further argues the superior court “did not adequately
consider the totality of [her] efforts” to reunify with Child. Mother’s
argument is a request to reweigh the evidence, which we will not do. See
Jesus M. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec., 203 Ariz. 278, 282, ¶ 12 (App. 2002).

¶18 The superior court did not abuse its discretion in finding the
statutory ground of A.R.S. § 8-533(B)(8)(c) was established by clear and
convincing evidence.

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II. Best Interests

¶19 Mother also argues the superior court erred in finding that
termination of her parental rights was in Child’s best interests. Termination
is in a child’s best interests if he or she will benefit from termination or be
harmed if termination is denied. Alma S., 245 Ariz. at 150, ¶ 13. The court
may find a child would benefit from termination if an adoption plan exists
or if the child is adoptable. See id. at 150-51, ¶¶ 13-14. The court may also
find a child will benefit from the permanency and stability an adoption
would provide. See Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec. v. Oscar O., 209 Ariz. 332, 337, ¶
16 (App. 2004); Maricopa Cnty. Juv. Action No. JS-501904, 180 Ariz. 348, 352
(App. 1994). Conversely, the court may find termination of the parent-child
relationship is in the child’s best interests if continuing the relationship
would harm the child. Demetrius L. v. Joshlynn F., 239 Ariz. 1, 4, ¶ 16 (2016)
(citations omitted).

¶20 Mother contends Child will be harmed by severing the
parent-child relationship, as Child knows her as his biological mother. But
Child has been in foster care for his entire life—nearly three years—and the
placement has provided Child with safety and stability. Further, the court
found that allowing Mother to retain her parental rights would likely cause
Child to “languish in the State’s custody” and hinder his ability to obtain
permanency. Child is thriving in the current placement’s care, a potential
adoptive placement, and the superior court did not abuse its discretion in
finding that termination of Mother’s parental rights would be in Child’s
best interests.

CONCLUSION

¶21 We affirm.

MATTHEW J. MARTIN • Clerk of the Court
FILED: JR

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