In the Interest of J. A.

The father's history of emotional abuse and domestic violence, anger issues and failure to complete his case plan supported the termination of his parental rights to his three children.

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The father of J. A., H. A., and Y. A. appeals the Spalding County Juvenile Court’s order that found his three children deprived under OCGA § 15-11-2 8 A. Specifically, he argues that the evidence was insufficient to justify the court’s ruling and that the court erred in failing to consider the court-appointed psychologist’s report and in excluding certain testimony as hearsay. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. On appeal from a deprivation order, we review a juvenile court’s finding of deprivation in the light most favorable to the juvenile court’s judgment to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found by clear and convincing evidence that the children were deprived. This Court neither weighs evidence nor determines the credibility of witnesses; rather, we defer to the trial court’s fact-finding and affirm unless the appellate standard is not met. Punctuation omitted. In the Interest of L. F. 1

So viewed, the record shows that in September 2003, DFCS received a report, stating that the father and mother of J. A., H. A., and Y. A. were in the process of divorcing and that there were claims by the mother of molestation, physical abuse, and domestic violence in the home. The father countered that these claims were baseless and were a product of the mother’s Graves’s disease, which caused the mother to be mentally and emotionally unstable if she failed to her take medication. As a result, the children were removed from the home at that time and have not been returned to the physical custody of either parent. DFCS provided the parents with a reunification case plan, and over the course of the next year and a half, both parents were allowed limited visitation with the children, who were initially living with foster parents and later were living with maternal relatives. During that time, all three children consistently expressed their desire to not be returned to their parents’ custody.

In the Interest of J. A.

The father's history of emotional abuse and domestic violence, anger issues and failure to complete his case plan supported the termination of his parental rights to his three children.

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