The father of 14-month-old T. B. W. appeals from an order of the Juvenile Court of Upson County that found T. B. W. to be deprived and that approved a request from the Department of Family and Children Services “the Department” to maintain temporary custody of the child with the Department. On appeal, the father contends that the juvenile court erred in finding that the Department made reasonable efforts to “prevent the removal” of T. B. W. from his custody. “Since the Department has not shown reasonable efforts,” the father argues, the juvenile court’s “finding of deprivation was in error.” We disagree. The October 5, 2010 temporary custody and deprivation order from which the father appeals also addressed the issue of paternity and declared that T. B. W. is the legitimate child of the appellant. On that date, the child was already in the custody of the Department pursuant to a July 8, 2010 order1 finding that the child was deprived based upon the mother’s stipulation of “medical neglect.” There is no evidence showing that the child had ever lived with her father or that the mother and father had lived together. The child, who was born at her mother’s home, suffered brain damage due to a lack of oxygen and “has major medical issues that require constant medical care.” In the July 8 deprivation and temporary disposition order, the court directed the appellant, whose status was then that of a putative father, to establish paternity, to obtain psychological counseling, to submit to a drug and alcohol assessment and a criminal background check, to complete parenting classes, to obtain and maintain stable housing and income, to pay child support, and to fully cooperate with the Department. The Court stated that “substantial compliance” with its order “must be accomplished by the putative father before reunification can be achieved.” Thereafter, the juvenile court continued the matter until October 5 to address the Department’s petition as it applied to the father. Following the October 5 hearing on the Department’s deprivation petition concerning the father, the juvenile court specifically found that the Department “made reasonable efforts to preserve and reunify the family prior to the placement of the child in foster care, to prevent or eliminate the need for removal of the child from the home and to make it possible for the child to return home.”
The father does not challenge the juvenile court’s findings with respect to the child’s status as a deprived child.2 Rather, the father challenges the court’s decision to allow the Department to maintain custody of the child, contending that the Department failed to make reasonable efforts “to prevent the removal of” T. B. W. from his father’s custody.
