In the Interest of T. H.

The juvenile court's subsequent, unappealed deprivation and custody judgments rendered moot the mother's appeal from the court's deprivation finding.

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The mother of six-year-old T. H. appeals from an order of the Juvenile Court of Fulton County in which the court ruled that the child was deprived. The mother contends that there was insufficient clear and convincing evidence to support the court’s conclusion. It is unnecessary to reach the merits of this issue, however, because we conclude that it has been rendered moot by subsequent, unappealed deprivation and custody judgments in this case in the juvenile court, as explained below. Accordingly, this appeal is dismissed.

The record shows the following, undisputed facts. In March 2007, the Department of Health Services’ Division of Children and Family Services “the Department” obtained temporary custody of five-month-old T. H., whose sixteen-year-old mother the appellant herein was already in the Department’s custody and living in foster care. T. H. remained in the Department’s custody through February 10, 2011, when the Department filed a deprivation petition in which it asserted that T. H. was still deprived. The juvenile court conducted a deprivation hearing in June 2011, and, on July 18, 2011, it issued an adjudication order in which it found T. H. deprived, extended the Department’s temporary custody, and ordered that the Department continue reunification efforts. The order stated that it would expire on February 16, 2012, unless the court terminated it sooner. The mother filed a timely notice of appeal from this adjudication order on July 21, 2011.1 However, this Court did not docket the appeal hereinafter, “the instant appeal” until May 7, 2012. By that date, the February 2011 expiration date of the order had passed.

In the Interest of T. H.

The juvenile court's subsequent, unappealed deprivation and custody judgments rendered moot the mother's appeal from the court's deprivation finding.

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