IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA No. COA18-958 Filed: 16 April 2019 Cumberland County, Nos. 14-JA-68, 14-JT-68, 15-JA-117, 15-JT-117 IN THE MATTER OF H.N.D. & L.N.A-D. Appeal by Respondent-Appellant Mother from orders entered 28 March 2017 and 27 June 2018 by Judge Cheri Siler-Mack in Cumberland County District Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 27 February 2019. Elizabeth Kennedy-Gurnee for Petitioner-Appellee Cumberland County Department of Social Services. Miller & Audino, LLP, by Jeffrey L. Miller, for Respondent-Appellant. Stephen M. Schoeberle for Guardian ad Litem. COLLINS, Judge. Respondent-Appellant Mother (Mother) appeals from orders ceasing reunification efforts with and terminating her parental rights to her minor children L.N.A-D. (Lee) and H.N.D. (Hank)1 (collectively, the Children). She contends that the trial court erred by making various findings of fact and conclusions of law in both orders. We affirm in part and dismiss in part. I. Background 1 Pseudonyms are used to protect the minors’ identities. IN RE H.N.D. & L.N.A-D. Opinion of the Court On 24 February 2014, Petitioner-Appellee Cumberland County Department of Social Services (“DSS”) filed a juvenile petition alleging that Lee was neglected and dependent. The DSS petition alleged the following: (1) Mother had a history of domestic violence with Lee’s father Jerry Dennings; (2) Mother and Dennings had a physical altercation on or about 27 December 2013 in which Dennings hit Mother in Lee’s presence and forced her out of the house threatening to kill her if she took Lee, after which Mother left Lee with Dennings; (3) Mother stated that she attempted to retrieve Lee from the house on 30 December 2013, but could not do so because Dennings fired a gun at her; (4) Dennings was involved in a physical altercation with another woman involving a gun in Lee’s presence on 17 February 2014; (5) the police came to Dennings’ house on 17 February 2014, Dennings fled as a result leaving Lee unsupervised, and Mother retrieved Lee the same day; (6) starting on 17 February 2014, Mother told social workers she had moved with Lee into the house of another man with whom she had children, and with whom she had a similar history of domestic violence, including multiple physical altercations in the presence of Mother’s children. DSS obtained nonsecure custody of Lee on 24 February 2014. On 5 May 2014, pursuant to an agreement between DSS and Mother, the trial court adjudicated Lee dependent because of domestic violence issues, and on 26 June 2014 a disposition order was entered. On 18 November 2014, an initial permanency planning hearing -2- IN RE H.N.D. & L.N.A-D. Opinion of the Court took place, and the trial court established a plan of reunification with Mother. In its permanency planning order, the trial court found that Mother and Dennings continued to reside together as a couple and that they had not appropriately addressed their domestic violence issues. The trial court thus concluded that it was not possible for Lee to return to his parents’ custody because the conditions which ...
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