IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON In the Matter of the Dependency of ) No. 78572-9-I G.J.M, ) ) (Consolidated with No. 78573-7-I) A Minor Child. ) ) DIVISION ONE STATE OF WASHINGTON, ) DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL AND ) HEALTH SERVICES, ) UNPUBLISHED OPINION Respondent, ) ) v. SARA MACRI, ) Appellant. ) FILED: February 3, 2020 LEACH, J. — Sara Macri appeals the trial court’s order terminating her parental rights to G.M. and dismissing her guardianship petition for G.M. She claims that the trial court should not have denied discovery of or excluded evidence of G.M.’s caregivers’ immigration status. She claims that excluding this evidence denied her due process right to present relevant evidence. If the trial court erred, any error was harmless. So we affirm. FACTS G.M. was born on January 31, 2013. The biological mother, Sara Macri, tested positive for methamphetamines when this child was born. The State removed G.M. from her care and placed G.M. with foster care parents, Debra and, Michael Jansen, No. 78572-9-I /2 when G.M. was 10 days old. After one of the Jansens’ foster children raised concerns about her care, the State conducted a licensing investigation into the home. During the investigation, separate concerns developed about G.M.’s sleeping arrangements, and this child was removed from the home at 22 months old. The dependency court placed G.M. with paternal relatives, where G.M. currently lives. On August II, 2017, the Department of Social and Health Services filed a petition to terminate Sara Macri’s parental rights. Sara Macri then filed a petition to appoint the Jansens as G.M.’s guardians. Sara Macri admitted most of the allegations in the State’s termination petition but denied that the continuation of her relationship with G.M. diminished this child’s prospects for early integration into a stable and permanent home. She also denied that the termination was in G.M.’s best interests. Sara Macri asked the court to consolidate the guardianship and termination of parental rights proceedings. The proposed guardians, Debra and Michael Jansen, filed a motion to intervene in the guardianship case. The court consolidated the proceedings and allowed the Jansens to intervene. During pretrial discovery, Sara Macri requested information about G.M.’s caregivers’ immigration status. She requested: 1) Any and all documents that prove your current immigration status in the United States of America. 2) Any and all documents regarding your attempt(s) to acquire legal immigration status in the United States of America. 3) Any and all documents from any United States governmental office regarding your immigration status. -2- No. 78572-9-I I 3 Sara Macri also filed a witness list that identified Dr. Luis Zayas as an expert witness. Zayas’s summary indicated that he would testify about the “trauma experienced by citizen children of unauthorized immigrants” and the “best interests issue and adoption or guardianship by unauthorized immigrants of a citizen child.” Sara Macri filed a motion to compel depositions of the relative caregivers and discovery of documents bearing on their immigration status. The court denied Sara ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals