M.W. v. A.E., D.E., and Franklin County Department of Human Resources

Rel: July 11, 2025

Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter.
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ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
SPECIAL TERM, 2025
_________________________

CL-2024-0938
_________________________

M.W.

v.

A.E., D.E., and Franklin County Department of Human
Resources

_________________________

CL-2024-0939
_________________________

C.M.

v.

A.E., D.E., and Franklin County Department of Human
Resources

Appeals from Franklin Juvenile Court
(JU-22-177.04)
CL-2024-0938 and CL-2024-0939

HANSON, Judge.

CL-2024-0938 -- AFFIRMED BY UNPUBLISHED MEMORANDUM.

CL-2024-0939 -- AFFIRMED BY UNPUBLISHED MEMORANDUM.

Fridy and Bowden, JJ., concur.

Edwards, J., concurs in the result, without opinion.

Moore, P.J., dissents, with opinion.

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CL-2024-0938 and CL-2024-0939

MOORE, Presiding Judge, dissenting.

I respectfully dissent. I agree that the Franklin Juvenile Court

("the juvenile court") erred in finding that M.W. ("the father") had an

ongoing substance-abuse problem and that C.M. ("the mother") had an

ongoing mental-health problem that impaired their ability to care for

M.K.W. ("the child"). I disagree, however, that the error was harmless

because I cannot conclude that the juvenile court would have terminated

the parental rights of the father and the mother absent those erroneous

findings. I believe that this court should reverse the judgment and

remand the case for the juvenile court to reconsider whether it should

terminate the mother's and the father's parental rights, without taking

into account its erroneous findings, as we did in B.T. v. Jefferson County

Department of Human Resources, [Ms. CL-2023-0944, Aug. 30, 2024] ___

So. 3d ___ (Ala. Civ. App. 2024).

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