In re Ryder M

Syllabus

The respondent father appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court terminating his parental rights with respect to his minor child, R, who previously had been adjudicated neglected and had been in a foster home since infancy. The father claimed, inter alia, that the trial court improperly determined that the Department of Children and Families, as required by statute (§ 17a-112 (j)), had made reasonable efforts to reunify him with R and that he had failed to achieve a sufficient degree of personal rehabilitation so as to adequately demonstrate reasonable parenting ability. Held: 1. The trial court properly determined from clear and convincing evidence that the department made reasonable efforts to reunite the respondent father with R: the court's uncontested findings established that the department referred him to two different service providers for mental health and substance abuse issues but that both discharged him as a result of his noncompliance with their requirements, and that he elected to cease his individual counseling with another service provider, tested positive several times for marijuana use and had been arrested on drug charges; moreover, the department provided the father an opportunity to attend a fatherhood program and to visit with R, but he missed scheduled visits, struggled to engage with R and had his visitation sus- pended temporarily after he was observed to be under the influence of a substance during a supervised visit; furthermore, despite the father's assertion that the department did not do everything reasonable that could have been done for him, even if he would have benefited from the additional actions he suggested to facilitate reunification with R, the department's failure to do so would not defeat the court's reasonable efforts determination. 2. The respondent father could not prevail on his claim that the trial court improperly determined that he failed to rehabilitate sufficiently: clear and convincing evidence in