In Re Jaylynn J.

06/24/2025 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE Assigned on Briefs May 1, 2025 IN RE JAYLYNN J. Appeal from the Juvenile Court for Davidson County No. PT000272009 Sheila Calloway, Judge ___________________________________ No. M2024-01688-COA-R3-PT ___________________________________ In the first appeal of this parental termination case, we affirmed the trial court’s findings that three grounds for termination were sufficiently proven, but we vacated one ground and the trial court’s best interest determination due to insufficient findings in the termination order. On remand, the trial court entered an amended order containing additional findings. The mother appeals. We affirm the termination of parental rights. Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Juvenile Court Affirmed CARMA DENNIS MCGEE, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which THOMAS R. FRIERSON, II, and JEFFREY USMAN, JJ., joined. C. Michael Cardwell, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Heather F. Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter, and Clifton Wade Barnett, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. OPINION I. FACTS & PROCEDURAL HISTORY Jaylynn J. was born in 2018 to Heather F. (“Mother”).1 In 2020, when Jaylynn was two, she was placed in temporary custody of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services due to drug abuse by Mother. Jaylynn was ultimately adjudicated dependent and neglected due to Mother’s continued use of drugs. The order adjudicating her dependent and neglected states that Mother admitted to substance abuse throughout the proceeding and tested positive for illegal substances throughout the proceeding. Mother was referred 1 We refer to the parties by initials to protect the privacy of the minor child. to family treatment court, but she was not participatory and failed to comply with its requirements. DCS developed several permanency plans for Mother. However, she continued to test positive on DCS drug screens. After some initial placements in other homes, Jaylynn was placed in a foster home with her current foster parents in March 2021, at the age of three. In March 2022, Mother had a visit with Jaylynn and was drug screened, and she tested positive for eleven substances: amphetamine, barbiturates, bupronephrine (Suboxone/Subutex), cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamine, opiate, oxycodone, PCP, propoxyphene, and THC. In June 2022, Mother was arrested and went to jail, charged with two counts of assault and one count of burglary. She ultimately pled guilty to the two assaults and a lesser offense of theft. In September 2022, while Mother remained in jail, DCS filed a petition to terminate parental rights.2 The petition asserted that termination of Mother’s parental rights was warranted based on five grounds for termination: abandonment by an incarcerated parent, abandonment by failure to provide a suitable home, substantial noncompliance with a permanency plan, persistent conditions, and failure to manifest an ability and willingness to assume custody. The petition also alleged that termination was in the best interest of Jaylynn. The matter was tried on April 17, 2023. By that time, Jaylynn was five years old. She had not been in Mother’s custody since April 2020, when she was initially placed with a relative. The trial court heard testimony from Mother, the child’s maternal grandmother, the foster mother, and a DCS caseworker. Mother testified first. She had been released from jail just two months before trial, on February 10, 2023, after serving seven months. Mother acknowledged that Jaylynn had been in foster care with DCS for two and a half years, roughly half of her life. Mother explained that Jaylynn was removed from her custody because she tested positive for heroin on a drug screen. She testified that she was living with her grandmother at the time. Mother testified that she had only been an active drug user for a couple of months at the time of Jaylynn’s removal, but her primary drug was heroin. Mother testified that she could not recall ever missing any DCS drug screens or any visits with Jaylynn. However, Mother admitted that she had never been clean on a DCS drug screen. She had tested positive for a host of drugs, including heroin, Xanax, morphine, cocaine, meth, ecstasy, and many others. Mother described the circumstances surrounding her arrest in June 2022. She stated that she was involved in an incident with neighbors in which she was accused of a physical altercation and going into their shed and taking so