Carrie Abbott has lost an effort to get back her son.
She argued she has become a fit mother to rear her 4-year-old child, who had a bite mark on his cheek and a cigarette burn on his back when the state took custody of him two years ago."I'm a new Carrie now," the 24-year-old woman said. "I'm a better Carrie than before."
But Thursday, the Utah Court of Appeals terminated Abbott's parental rights, clearing the way for the boy's foster family to adopt him.
Abbott said she had completed anger-management, parenting and drug-treatment programs and passed two dozen random drug tests in a year.
The court said she had failed to stay sober or enter treatment within a 12-month period that began shortly after her son was taken away.
"Although 12 months may not seem long for parents to shape up," said Deputy Solicitor General Annina Mitchell, who argued the state's case, "when you look at that period in a child's life, it is a huge amount of time."
The boy's guardian ad litem, Martha Pierce, said, "Someone's heart is going to get broken; that's how these cases are. The law says the courts must think about the welfare of the child after a certain point."
In an unusual order last January, 3rd District Juvenile Judge Robert Yates terminated Abbott's parental rights but also ordered child welfare officials to again begin efforts to reunify the mother and child, saying Abbott was "making good-faith efforts" to learn how to be a good parent to her son.
The Utah Division of Child and Family Services appealed, saying Yates lacked the authority to postpone terminating Abbott's parental rights. Abbott also appealed the termination order.
The case went to the appeals court, which Thursday said Utah law is clear: Parents deemed unfit have a single year to comply with reunification plans. Abbott had gone past the deadline by six months.
"Our Legislature has clearly indicated that a parent wishing reunification with his or her child must act quickly toward that end," Appeals Judge Norman H. Jackson wrote.
Abbott could not be reached for comment.
Since his birth, the boy had spent most of his time with his grandparents. They said they had to protect him from their daughter and her drug friends, who often showed up at their Salt Lake home high on methamphetamine and violent.
In August 1997, the grandfather telephoned authorities after the boy found marijuana in Abbott's purse. She was charged with assault and possessing marijuana and the child was taken into protective custody.
Abbott lived for weeks at a time on the streets. She was kicked out of a residential treatment center in December 1997 after failing a drug test. She entered another program but quit after two weeks. She missed a court hearing regarding her son, twice failed to comply with state-mandated terms for reunification with her son and flunked several drug tests.
For his part, the boy never bonded with his mother, according to the court.
The child "seemed very happy with his foster placement and showed a great deal of affection toward his foster family," the judges said. He "continually sought out his foster mother for reassurance and comfort, and did not like to be separated from her."