## Facts

- The State child-protection agency obtained emergency custody of two minor children after a history of severe domestic violence by the father against the mother, frequently in the children’s presence.
- The mother obtained multiple restraining orders but repeatedly resumed the relationship, resulting in ongoing exposure of the children to violent episodes.
- After an incident involving the father’s threats concerning harm to the children, the agency secured an oral instanter order and placed the children in protective custody.
- The court approved a reunification case plan requiring the mother to participate in counseling and take steps to ensure safety and stability.
- The mother initially attended therapy but later refused to continue with the arranged counseling; reunification did not progress, and the plan shifted to relative placement.
- The agency petitioned to terminate both parents’ rights, alleging noncompliance with the case plan.
- After a termination hearing, the trial court terminated both parents’ rights, finding the children suffered severe psychological trauma from chronic exposure to domestic violence amounting to chronic, life-threatening, or gravely disabling abuse or neglect.

## Issues

1. Whether a parent’s failure to protect children from chronic exposure to domestic violence can constitute statutory “abuse or neglect” that is chronic, life-threatening, or gravely disabling.
2. Whether severe psychological harm from witnessing domestic violence can satisfy the statutory severity requirement absent serious physical injury to the children.
3. Whether termination may be affirmed on a statutory ground supported by the record when the petition emphasized case-plan noncompliance, if the parent had fair notice and due process.

## Decision

- The Louisiana Supreme Court reversed the court of appeal’s ruling that had set aside termination of the mother’s parental rights.
- The Court reinstated the trial court’s judgment terminating the parental rights of both parents.
- The Court held that severe, chronic psychological harm to children from repeated exposure to domestic violence can meet the statutory standard for chronic, life-threatening, or gravely disabling abuse or neglect.
- The Court concluded that the mother’s victim status did not preclude termination where she repeatedly failed to protect the children from known, serious harm despite services and interventions.
- The Court treated any mismatch between the petition’s emphasis and the trial court’s stated basis as not outcome-determinative where the record and proceedings provided fair notice and supported the statutory ground.

## Legal Principles

- Statutory “abuse or neglect” supporting termination of parental rights may include severe psychological injury, not only direct physical harm.
- Chronic exposure of children to serious domestic violence, producing documented severe emotional trauma, can constitute chronic, life-threatening, or gravely disabling harm for termination purposes.
- A non-abusive parent may face termination when persistent failure to protect children from a known violent environment results in substantial harm and the parent cannot or will not ensure safety.
- Once statutory grounds are proven, the child’s best interest in safety and permanency controls the disposition.

## Conclusion

The court upheld termination of a battered mother’s parental rights because repeated failure to protect her children from chronic domestic violence caused severe psychological harm that satisfied the statutory threshold for grave abuse or neglect and supported permanency planning in the children’s best interests.


State ex rel. C.J.K., 774 So. 2d 107 (La. 2000)