In the Int. of: A.M., Appeal of: BCCYSSA ( 2021 )

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NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
IN THE INTEREST OF: A.M., A : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
MINOR : PENNSYLVANIA
:
:
APPEAL OF: BUCKS COUNTY :
CHILDREN AND YOUTH SOCIAL :
SERVICES AGENCY :
:
: No. 2078 EDA 2020
Appeal from the Order Entered October 30, 2020
In the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County Criminal Division at
No(s): CP-09-DP-0000156-2018
BEFORE: LAZARUS, J., NICHOLS, J., and MUSMANNO, J.
MEMORANDUM BY NICHOLS, J.: FILED JULY 07, 2021
Bucks County Children and Youth Social Services (CYS) appeals from
the order, entered pursuant 42 Pa.C.S. § 6351, and directing CYS to engage
and pay for the services of a life care planner for A.M. (Child),1 the son of D.M.
(Father) and J.M. (Mother). For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
Subsequent to the filing of a dependency petition on September 20,
2018, the trial court adjudicated Child dependent on October 10, 2018, and
placed him in the legal and physical custody of CYS.2 See Order of
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1 Child was born in March of 2009.
2 Upon review, CYS had been involved with the family since 2017 due to issues
of substance abuse and domestic violence. See Order of Adjudication &
Disposition, Findings of Fact, 10/10/18, at ¶ h; see also Dependency Pet.,
9/20/18, at ¶ h.
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Adjudication & Disposition, 10/10/18. Child was placed with Woods Services,
a residential facility. Id. at ¶ 11(c). As noted by the trial court, Child
suffer[s] from cognitive impairment, cerebral palsy, and severe
developmental delays[, and] lacks the ability to perform many
daily life activities, including the ability to use a toilet, the ability
to feed himself, and the ability to speak. [Child] currently requires
full-time care at Woods Services, a twenty-four[-]hour facility for
children with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
Trial Ct. Op., 12/10/20, at 1-2; see also N.T., 10/14/20, at 4-5, 11-12; Order
of Adjudication & Disposition, Findings of Fact, 10/10/18, at ¶ a.
On October 14, 2020, the trial court held a status review hearing.
Mother and Father appeared with their respective counsel. Child was
represented by a guardian ad litem.3 At the time of the hearing, Child
remained in CYS’s legal and physical custody of remained with Woods
Services,4 and the goal was reunification with a concurrent plan for adoption.
See Permanency Review Order, 6/30/20.
During the hearing, Father stated that “[e]verything is good in life right
now,” that he and Mother were approaching one year of sobriety, and that he
was working full-time. N.T., 10/14/20, at 4-5. Father continued that he and
Mother:
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3 We observe that the guardian ad litem submitted a brief to this Court in favor
of the court’s order engaging a life care planner.
4 We note that while it appears that Child has remained with Woods Services
throughout the dependency proceedings, some of the motions for permanency
review and permanency review orders refer to foster care.
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had a bit of a concern. I mean, we both want him to come home,
but we’re not really sure if that is, like, maybe the best decision
right now for where we’re at. We have to get all the services put
in place. And not that he’s a burden, but he needs 24-hour care.
...
Id. at 5.
Mother described difficulties in communicating with Woods Services. Id.
at 8. Specifically, Mother noted that she called the facility twice “to try to
figure out funding for that[,]” apparently referring to funding for Woods
Services. Id.
The trial court then engaged in a discussion with the CYS case worker
about funding, noting that it would not return Child to Parents until the court
was “comfortable that [Parents] have the funding in place to care for [Child].”
Id. at 10. After hearing that Woods Services cost approximately $400 per
day, the trial court engaged in the following exchange with CYS’s counsel:
THE COURT: Is there a cerebral palsy foundation to reach out to
for grants to the family to help relieve some financial burden?
I’m going to require, before I make a decision with regard to
returning [Child], as to whether or not they can financially take
care of [Child] through grants, fundings, programs, [CYS] will be
able to do it.
[CYS’s Counsel]: Your Honor, if I may, and I don’t know whether
this would be a problem in getting funding, but I am aware that
[Child] has received a settlement at some point in time in the past
that is quite substantial I believe either upwards of over a million
dollars. It’s in a trust fund for him.
THE COURT: Let’s assume that to be correct, he can’t touch it till
he’s 18 years old.
[CYS’s Counsel]: There is an institutional --
THE COURT: Called a special needs trust.
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[CYS’s Counsel]: There’s an institutional trustee who --
THE COURT: A special needs trust the child has no right to use the
money except for a limited basis based on what was set up with
the special needs trust. I’ve done hundreds of these as a
practitioner.
[CYS’s Counsel]: I’m not suggesting that isn’t the case, Your
Honor. I’m suggesting that there may be some difficulty in with
the parents, who we hope are able to get funding and get [Child]
home.
THE COURT: Parents can’t get a dime. Parents on a special needs
trust cannot get a dime, and that’s why they appointed
independent trustees to manage the money.
[CYS’s Counsel]: I’m not suggesting they can, Your Honor. What
I’m saying is there may be some difficulty with them getting
funding because of the existence of that trust.
* * *
[CYS’s Counsel]: . . . I wonder if, [the CYS case worker], could
you tell what [CYS] has done to try to locate possible financial
assistance for the parents if and when [Child] goes home?
THE COURT: You don’t have to tell me now. You have to tell me,
when you’re trying to move this child back home or the parents -
- I thought I said this earlier -- trying to get [Child] back home.
I’m going to want evidence bringing in fund managers, et cetera,
explaining what they can do to provide financing that would be
sufficient for [Child] to be wherever it is that you I are trying to
do. I don’t need it now.
I’m making that directive pretty clear. If the parents want to
move [Child] back to their home, they have a right to make that
motion. And I will take into consideration all the evidence that
they present as to how they’re going to fund [Child].
Because as we always know, it’s always about do they have the
ability to be able to provide for [Child]. This is a child that’s going
to have million[s] of dollars over the course of his lifetime.
Also, to give both of you a heads up as to what you should
probably be doing, you should probably get a life care planner and
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have that person do a study. In fact, I’m going to order the [CYS]
to do it.
They are to get a life care planner, which is an expert in projecting
costs for future life expectancies of children and have them do a
complete report projecting over the course of [Child’s] life.
They review the medical records, they talk to the physicians, they
talk to the therapists, they come with a plan saying they need X
number of dollars a day so many days a year. When they get
older, these things are going to happen, and they can project your
plan as to what it would cost over the lifetime of [Child].
That will occur if you were involved in civil litigation trying to make
sure, when you’re trying to litigate a case, you get sufficient funds
to provide for the lifetime, and they made a contingency whether
he has a short lifetime or not, they will go into the life expectancy
as well.
It usually takes about 90 days once you retain the life care
planner. If you need to obtain a life care planner, I’m sure there’s
a number of plaintiff’s attorneys that people know that they can
ask someone who has done this kind of work and they will get you
life care planners.
[CYS’s Counsel]: Understood.
THE COURT: I want that report in three months if that’s possible.
[CYS’s Counsel]: Thank you, Your Honor.
THE COURT: The parents will have an idea of the costs that would
be needed to take care of the child, and they break it down year
by year or like age three to five, five to 12, so they take five to
whatever, then adulthood. They will lose these benefits that he
has. He may have these things. He is getting Social Security
benefits?
[CYS Case Worker]: Yeah, he has medical assistance.
THE COURT: Besides medical assistance?
[CYS’s Counsel]: Just social security does he receive social
security disability?
[CYS Case Worker]: No.
THE COURT: Does he qualify for it?
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[CYS Counsel]: I don’t know whether the parents ever applied.
[Father]: My wife had applied for it when he was a child, got
denied. We tried once or twice.
[Mother]: When he was younger, I did try getting social security,
it was denied. I haven’t tried any recent time.
THE COURT: I don’t know the requirements that’s clearly about
Social Security disability for a 12-year old that is permanently
disabled. You may want to see if there’s some way he gets
qualified for that, get certain income, help support and offset the
expenses.
But the life care planner will also be able to help you in that regard
as to other sources of funding. So I look forward to getting that
report in the next 90 days. [CYS] will bear the costs of that report
as well as all costs associated with gathering all the records that
the life care planner is going to need, which will be a little
expensive.
Don’t be surprised if this report doesn’t cost [CYS] between five
and $10,000. They will interview the family, they will go to
Woods, they will interview the people at woods. That’s an
extensive process. It gives you a good indication of what the
economics are for a 12-year old with these kinds of disabilities.
[CYS’s Counsel]: Your Honor, may I get an order to that effect?
THE COURT: Sure . . . .
Id. at 12-19.
By the order dated October 29, 2020, and entered October 30, 2020,
the trial court issued a written order memorializing its verbal order for a life
care planner. The court explained:
On October 14, 2020, this [c]ourt ordered [CYS] to engage and
pay for a life care planner, a specialist in determining the
immediate and long-term cost of caring for a special-needs
person. This [c]ourt stated it required the report of a life care
planner in order to determine whether the parents could provide
the necessary parental care to [Child]. While acknowledging the
cost associated with a life care planner, this [c]ourt felt
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uncomfortable making a determination as to [Child]’s best
interests without expert consultation.
Trial Ct. Op. at 2-3.
Thereafter, on November 10, 2020, CYS filed a timely notice of appeal,
as well as concise statement of errors complained of on appeal pursuant to
Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a)(2)(i) and (b).5
On appeal, the CYS raises the following issue for our review:
Did the [trial] court err and abuse its discretion by directing [CYS]
to engage and pay for the services of a life care planner for the
subject child?
CYS’s Brief at 4 (some capitalization omitted). Before addressing CYS’s
arguments in this appeal, we first consider this Court’s appellate jurisdiction
and whether CYS properly objected to the trial court’s ruling.
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5 In a joint motion filed March 12, 2021, Mother and Father requested this
Court to quash the appeal contending that CYS failed to properly serve them
with their appellate brief, CYS’s brief is defective, CYS’s Rule 1925(b)
statement of errors is not adequately specific, and CYS failed to file a
designation or reproduced record. Mother and Father assert that CYS’s brief
fails to cite to the record and to where issues were preserved for review, CYS’s
brief fails to cite to pertinent authority, the summary of argument is devoid of
discussion, and the argument is not properly divided. See Joint Appl. of
Mother and Father to Quash Appeal for Violations of Rules of Appellate
Procedure that Preclude Effective Appellate Review, 3/12/21.
Pursuant to order of March 26, 2021, this Court denied the motion without
prejudice to the moving parties’ rights to again raise this issue, if properly
preserved, in their briefs, or, if the briefs have already been filed, then in new
applications that may be filed after the appeal has been assigned to the panel
of this Court that will decide the merits of the appeal. See Order, 3/26/21.
As Mother and Father failed to file a brief where they re-raised these issues or
failed to file a subsequent motion re-raising these issues, we decline to re-
address them.
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Jurisdiction
“Jurisdiction is purely a question of law; the appellate standard of review
is de novo and the scope of review plenary.” In the Interest of J.M., 219
A.3d 645, 650 (Pa. Super. 2019) (citation and quotation marks omitted). “In
order to be appealable, the order must be: (1) a final order, Pa.R.A.P. 341-
42; (2) an interlocutory order appealable by right or permission, 42 Pa.C.S. §
702(a)-(b); Pa.R.A.P. 311-12; or (3) a collateral order, Pa.R.A.P. 313.” Id.
(footnote omitted).
The collateral order doctrine exists as an exception to the finality
rule and permits immediate appeal as of right from an otherwise
interlocutory order where an appellant demonstrates that the
order appealed from meets the following elements: (1) it is
separable from and collateral to the main cause of action; (2) the
right involved is too important to be denied review; and (3) the
question presented is such that if review is postponed until final
judgment in the case, the claimed right will be irreparably lost.
Id. at 655 (citations omitted and formatting altered).6
In In re J.R., 875 A.2d 1111 (Pa. Super. 2005), the Philadelphia
Department of Human Services (DHS) appealed from an order that directed
DHS to provide home telephone service to the child’s father. J.R., 875 A.2d
at 1113. The child’s father was required to call DHS and confirm in advance
his attendance for supervised visits with the child. Id. If the father did not
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6 The J.M. Court addressed whether an order prohibiting visits at the mother’s
home was an appealable order. J.M., 219 A.3d at 649-50. The J.M. Court
quashed the appeal because the order was not a final order or a collateral
order. Id. at 649, 661.
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call DHS in advance, DHS would cancel the father’s visits. Id. The trial court
sua sponte ordered DHS to provide home telephone service. Id. DHS
objected and suggested alternatives that the trial court did not entertain. Id.
DHS filed a post-trial motion for reconsideration, which the trial court denied,
and DHS appealed. Id.
In resolving the appealability of the trial court’s order, the Court held
that the interlocutory order was appealable under the collateral order doctrine
for the following reasons:
First, the order for telephone service is separable from and
collateral to the main cause of action, which is the dependency
determination and disposition. Second, the right involved is DHS’s
discretion to determine allocation of limited resources. This is a
right too important to be denied review. Third, if review is
postponed and DHS ultimately prevails, it is unlikely that the
agency will be able to recoup the funds paid out pursuant to the
court order.
Id. at 1114 (citations omitted). Thus, the Court held that the order was
appealable under the collateral order doctrine, and we had jurisdiction to
review the merits of the appeal. Id.
Instantly, as stated by the trial court, “[a]lthough not a final order, this
[c]ourt's order is procedurally appealable under the collateral order doctrine.”
Trial Ct. Op. at 3 n.7 (citation omitted). Under the ruling in J.R., we find the
following regarding the order on appeal in this dependency case: (1) it is
separable from and collateral to the main cause of action (i.e., Child’s
dependency and disposition); (2) the right involved is too important to be
denied review the CYS’s obligation to spend its limited resources on paying for
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a life care planner); and (3) the question presented is such that if review is
postponed until final judgment in the case, the claimed right will be irreparably
lost (i.e., CYS will have already paid for the acquisition of a life care planner,
and CYS will be unable to recoup those funds if CYS prevails on appeal). As
such, we agree with the trial court that the order is appealable as a collateral
order.
Waiver
It is well settled that “[i]ssues not raised in the trial court are waived
and cannot be raised for the first time on appeal.” Pa.R.A.P. 302(a). In In
re L.V., 209 A.3d 399 (Pa. Super. 2019), the Court found the mother waived
one of her issues for the following reasons:7
In order to preserve an issue for appellate review, a party must
make a timely and specific objection at the appropriate stage of
the proceedings before the trial court. Failure to timely object to
a basic and fundamental error will result in waiver of that issue.
On appeal the Superior Court will not consider a claim which was
not called to the trial court’s attention at a time when any error
committed could have been corrected. In this jurisdiction one
must object to errors, improprieties or irregularities at the earliest
possible stage of the adjudicatory process to afford the jurist
hearing the case the first occasion to remedy the wrong and
possibly avoid an unnecessary appeal to complain of the matter.
Id. at 418 (citation omitted and formatting altered); see also In re A.W.,
187 A.3d 247, 252-53 (Pa. Super. 2018) (holding that because the parents’
counsel failed to timely object before the trial court, the parents waived their
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7 In L.V., the mother contended the trial court erred by delaying the
scheduling of the dependency hearing. L.V., 209 A.3d at 418.
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issue that the trial court violated their right to due process because, among
other reasons, “the juvenile court’s interruptions made it impossible [for the
parents’] counsel to ‘make any argument which the court would entertain’”).
With respect to the requirement for a contemporaneous objection, our
Supreme Court has explained:
Appellate court consideration of issues not raised in the trial court
results in the trial becoming merely a dress rehearsal. This
process removes the professional necessity for trial counsel to be
prepared to litigate the case fully at trial and to create a record
adequate for appellate review. The ill-prepared advocate’s hope
is that an appellate court will come to his aid after the fact and
afford him relief despite his failure at trial to object to an alleged
error. The diligent and prepared trial lawyer—and his client—are
penalized when an entire case is retried because an appellate
court reverses on the basis of an error opposing counsel failed to
call to the trial court’s attention.
Dilliplaine v. Lehigh Valley Tr. Co., 322 A.2d 114, 116 (Pa. 1974).
Instantly, CYS failed to specifically raise any objection in the court below
related to the court’s order for them to engage a life care planner. CYS failed
to object on the record to the verbal order. To the contrary, CYS’s counsel
asserted that he “understood” the court’s directive that CYS pay for a life
planner and requested the order once the court set forth its request. See
N.T., 10/14/20, at 15-19. As such, because CYS failed to raise a timely
objection in the court below, the issue is waived. See Pa.R.A.P. 302; L.V.,
209 A.3d at 418; A.W., 187 A.3d at 252-53; see generally Dilliplaine, 322
A.2d at 116. However, even if CYS preserved its issues in this appeal, we
conclude that the trial court’s order was appropriate.
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CYS Claims
CYS contends that the trial court erred by sua sponte ordering CYS to
pay for a life care planner, without notice and opportunities for CYS to consider
alternatives and provide the court with more complete evidence in the case.
See CYS’s Brief at 7. CYS contends that the requirement for a life care planner
“came like a bolt out of the blue.” Id. at 8. CYS continues that the trial court
unfairly criticized it for being unable to provide answers concerning the
family’s ability to finance Child’s care. Id. at 7. CYS asserts that the trial
court inaccurately stated that CYS wanted to be relieved of its obligation to
pay for Child’s care or attempt to return Child to Mother and Father. Id. at 6.
When reviewing a juvenile court’s order requiring a child welfare agency
to fund a particular service, we adhere to an abuse of discretion standard.
J.R., 875 A.2d at 1114. An abuse of discretion is not merely an error of
judgment, but is, inter alia, a manifestly unreasonable judgment or a
misapplication of law. Id.In In re Tameka M., 580 A.2d 750 (Pa. 1990), the trial court ordered
the agency to fund a dependent child’s attendance at a Montessorian pre-
school school, which was neither licensed nor funded by the Department of
Public Welfare. Tameka M., 580 A.2d at 751. The Tameka M. Court, cited,
in relevant part, Section 6351(a) which gives the trial court authority to make
disposition orders for dependent children which are “best suited to the
[safety,] protection and physical, mental, and moral welfare of the child. . . .”
See id. at 752-53. The Court then explained:
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[U]nder our law, [the agency] has the duty to give financial
support to dependent children, and Juvenile Court has the duty to
act to provide for the “[safety,] protection and physical, mental
and moral welfare” of a dependent child. This bestows on a
dependent child the legal right to such care and treatment to be
paid for by [the agency].
Id. at 755.
In J.R., this Court reversed the trial court’s order directing the agency
to pay for telephone services for a parent. J.R., 875 A.2d at 1118. The J.R.
Court reasoned:
Our Supreme Court has held that [the agency] has a legal duty to
give financial support to dependent children. But this duty cannot
be interpreted as a mandate to provide the necessities of life to
parents whose children have been adjudicated dependent. Nor
can this duty be reoriented to give primacy to parents’ direct
needs. Rather, the needs of children who have been adjudicated
dependent are, and must remain, the polestar. [The agency] has
limited resources, and those resources must be focused on its
central mission—to provide for the protection and welfare of
dependent children. Similarly, while the court has broad
discretionary authority under the Juvenile Act, its jurisdiction is
limited by the needs and interests of the child.
We of course realize that providing a telephone—or a home or a
job—to the parent of a child who has been adjudicated dependent
would in many cases aid not only the parent but also the
dependent child and promote family unity. In recognition of this
fact, many services are available to parents to provide assistance
and support for their efforts at reunification with their dependent
children. Indeed, the Juvenile Act requires that “reasonable
efforts” be made to reunify the family once a child has been
declared dependent. See 42 Pa.C.S.[] §§ 6351(e) & (f).
Nonetheless, the focus of the Juvenile Act is the dependent child,
not the parent. The statute cannot sustain an interpretation that
would allow the court to order parental services that do not
directly promote the best interests of the child or that are beyond
the statutory standard of “reasonable efforts” to reunify the
family.
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In ordering telephone service that would benefit Father without a
finding that it would serve the dependent child’s needs, interests,
and welfare, the court committed an error of law.[fn5] We therefore
vacate that portion of the juvenile court’s order that directed DHS
to provide home telephone service for [the f]ather.
[fn5] Whether the provision of home telephone service falls
into the category of “reasonable efforts” to reunify the
family was not addressed by the juvenile court. By requiring
only “reasonable efforts” to reunify a family, the statute
recognizes that there are practical limitations to such
efforts. 43 Pa.C.S.[] §§ 6351(e) & (f). It is not sufficient
for the court to find simply that an action will promote family
reunification; the court must also determine whether the
action constitutes a reasonable effort towards
reunification. Under the facts of this case, we do not believe
that provision of home telephone service constitutes a
reasonable effort.
Id. at 1118 & n.5 (citations omitted and emphasis in original).
Here, in its opinion, the trial court explained its ruling issue on appeal
as follows:
The Pennsylvania Juvenile Act bestows in juvenile courts the
mandate to deploy orders that are “best suited to the safety,
protection and physical, mental, and moral welfare of the child[.]”
The essential purposes of the Juvenile Act guide juvenile courts in
“provid[ing] for the care, protection, safety and wholesome
mental and physical development of children” and “preserv[ing]
the unity of the family whenever possible[.]” Juvenile courts must
carefully consider a dependent child’s specific circumstance and
use that understanding to rule in the child’s best interests. The
legislative decrees contained within the Juvenile Act also impose
on child welfare agencies “the legal duty to provide financial
support for the care and treatment of a dependent child.”
Previously, the Pennsylvania Appellate Courts have permitted
juvenile courts to order child welfare agencies to pay for a panoply
of expenditures related to a juvenile court’s assessment of the
child’s best interest. In [Tameka M.], the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court upheld a juvenile court’s directive for a child welfare agency
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to reimburse the parents of a dependent child for Montessori
schooling when traditional schools were insufficient in meeting the
specific demands of the child. In the Superior Court, the Court
upheld orders directing child welfare agencies to pay for expenses,
including a college stipend, dental treatment, and a laptop[,]
when free alternatives were insufficient to meet the best interest
of the child. In [J.R.]—a case where a juvenile court ordered the
child welfare agency to pay for a father’s telephone service to
further the father’s relationship with the dependent child—the
Superior Court only reversed the juvenile court’s order when the
juvenile court did not consider cheaper alternatives that would
also meet the child’s best interest.
Here, [Child]’s medical condition and his dependent status impose
on [CYS] a duty to determine the cost of future care to further
[Child]’s best interests. Similar to the child in [Tameka M.],
[Child]’s specific situation requires [CYS] to pay atypical
expenditures to further the purposes of the [J]uvenile [A]ct. This
[c]ourt understands [Child]’s unique circumstances require a life
care planner’s report before this [c]ourt can carefully order a final
determination at a permanency hearing. [CYS]’s expertise does
not reach to special-needs children in long-term twenty-four-hour
care. Although the Juvenile Act tasks this [c]ourt with
“preserv[ing] the unity of the family whenever possible[,” CYS]
needs to present specialized information so this [c]ourt can
determine whether, in [Child]’s unfortunate case, successful
reunification is possible.
This [c]ourt only ordered [CYS] to hire a life care planner only
when [CYS] was unable to provide answers this [c]ourt required
in determining what was in the child’s best interests. Neither this
[c]ourt nor [CYS] possess the requisite expertise in determining
the costs of [Child]’s long-term care and whether his parents could
adequately care for him if they ever regain custody. [CYS] did not
propose cheaper alternatives, and [CYS] did not suggest this
[c]ourt’s inquiry was unnecessary or fruitless. Instead, [CYS] only
confirmed this [c]ourt’s view that the parents would have difficulty
procuring the necessary funding for [Child]. [CYS] similarly failed
to present evidence concerning [Child]’s alleged trust and whether
this funding could be used to employ a life care planner.
This [c]ourt is cognizant of [CYS]’s limited budget. This [c]ourt’s
ruling did not set a precedent that [CYS] must pay for a life care
planner for every single dependent child, but rather that it was in
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the best interest of [Child], given [Child]’s unique circumstances,
for a life care planner to assess [Child]’s future. With the Juvenile
Act’s directives, this [c]ourt was compelled to do so.
Trial Ct. Op. at 3-6 (footnotes omitted).
Based on the foregoing, we agree with the trial court that Child’s
situation presented a unique situation in which a determination of the Child’s
future expenses, and Mother and Father’s ability to meet such expenses, was
critical for a reasoned consideration of the Child’s best interests. Although
CYS points out that the trial court’s ruling was unexpected, CYS did not object
nor present argument to the trial court to explain why funding the life care
planner was infeasible nor did it propose alternatives at the hearing. See
Tameka M., 580 A.2d at 752-53; J.R., 875 A.2d at 1118. Given the unique
circumstances of this case, we find no basis to disturb the trial court’s ruling
that the retention of a life care planner, paid for by CYS, was in Child’s best
interest.
Order affirmed.
Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 7/7/2021
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