IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF IDAHO Docket No. 48445 In the Interest of: John Doe I, Jane Doe I, ) John Doe II, Jane Doe II, and Jane ) Doe III, Children Under Eighteen (18) ) Years of Age. ) STATE OF IDAHO, DEPARTMENT OF ) HEALTH AND WELFARE, ) Filed: March 22, 2021 ) Petitioner-Respondent, ) Melanie Gagnepain, Clerk ) v. ) ) JOHN DOE (2020-48), ) ) Respondent-Appellant. ) ) Appeal from the Magistrate Division of the District Court of the Fifth Judicial District, State of Idaho, Jerome County. Hon. Jennifer Haemmerle, Magistrate. Judgment terminating parental rights, affirmed. James Law Office, PLLC; Michelle L. Agee, Jerome, for appellant. Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General; James T. Baird, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent. Theodore R. Larsen, Jerome, for guardian ad litem ________________________________________________ BRAILSFORD, Judge John Doe (Father) appeals from the magistrate court’s judgment terminating his parental rights to his five minor children. He argues the court erred by concluding the termination of his parental rights is in the children’s best interests. We affirm. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Father and Jane Doe (Mother) are the biological parents of five minor children: J.M. (born January 2010), I.M. (born February 2011), D.M. (born March 2012), S.M. (born February 1 2015), and A.M. (born February 2016). Mother and Father’s parental rights have been the subject of three, separate child protection cases. When D.M. was born in 2012, Mother and Father lived in Las Vegas, and D.M. tested positive for methamphetamine. As a result, the State of Nevada initiated a child protection case, and Mother and Father were required to and did complete a case plan. Shortly before S.M. was born in 2015, Father moved from Las Vegas to Jerome, Idaho, and Mother followed after S.M. was born. In 2016, Mother took S.M. to the hospital because she was having seizures. S.M. tested positive for methamphetamine, and Mother was criminally charged and convicted of felony injury to a child for driving S.M. to the hospital while under the influence of methamphetamine. As a result of this incident, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (Department) initiated a child protection case in May 2016. The parents completed their case plan, and the case was dismissed in June 2017. A few months later, in September 2017, the Department received a complaint from the children’s school that the parents were not meeting the children’s needs. Generally, the report was the children were hungry, dirty, and otherwise unkempt. A Department social worker met with Mother at the parents’ home, noticed possible drug paraphernalia, and asked to have the children drug tested. All five children tested positive for methamphetamine, and law enforcement declared the children to be in imminent danger on September 27. On September 29, the Department filed a petition under the Child Protective Act, Idaho Code §§ 16-1601, et seq., commencing this case. In November, the magistrate court granted the Department legal custody of the children, all of whom were in …
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