Alexis Welsh v. Arkansas Department of Human Services and Minor Children

── Alexis Welsh v. Arkansas Department of Human Services and Minor Children ── Court: Court of Appeals of Arkansas Date: April 29, 2026 Category: General Cite as 2026 Ark. App. 259 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION II No. CV-25-821 ALEXIS WELSH Opinion Delivered April 29, 2026 APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE HOT SPRING COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT V. [NO. 30JV-23-82] ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF HONORABLE STEPHEN L. SHIRRON, HUMAN SERVICES AND MINOR JUDGE CHILDREN APPELLEES AFFIRMED; MOTION TO WITHDRAW GRANTED BART F. VIRDEN, Judge Alexis Welsh appeals the Hot Spring County Circuit Court order terminating her parental rights to MC1 and MC3, who were four years old and a few days old, respectively, at the time of removal. Pursuant to Linker-Flores v. Arkansas Department of Human Services, 359 Ark. 131, 194 S.W.3d 739 (2004), and Rule 6-9(j) of the Rules of the Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, Alexis’s counsel filed a no-merit brief and a motion to withdraw asserting there are no issues of arguable merit to raise on appeal. 1 The clerk of this court provided Alexis with a copy of her counsel’s brief and notified her of her right to file a pro 1 MC2 was permanently placed with her father during the pendency of this case and is not a party to this no-merit appeal. The termination of Alexis’s parental rights to MC2 is in the subject of the companion case, Welsh v. Arkansas Department of Human Services, 2026 Ark. App. 258, ___ S.W.3d ___, also handed down today. se statement of points for reversal. She did not do so. We affirm the termination of Alexis’s parental rights and grant counsel’s motion to withdraw. I. Relevant Facts On June 19, 2023, the Arkansas Department of Human Services (Department) exercised a seventy-two-hour emergency hold over Alexis’s children, MC1, MC2, and MC3. On June 23, the Department filed a petition for dependency-neglect regarding the children and named Christopher Krum as MC2’s putative father. Johnathon Mason was identified as MC1’s father. No father was identified for MC3. In the affidavit attached to the petition, the Department alleged the following. MC3 was born on June 15, testing positive for amphetamines. Alexis tested positive for methamphetamine and amphetamines, though she initially denied drug use. Later, she admitted she had recently taken pills and snorted an unknown substance. Alexis’s parents had physical custody of MC1 and MC2, but Alexis refused to tell the caseworker where they were. The caseworker attempted to assess Alexis’s mother’s home, but the driveway gate was locked, and the occupants of the home did not respond to the caseworker’s honking or phone calls. When the caseworker successfully performed a random check of the home, she found it piled high with trash, boxes, and clothing, and it smelled strongly of trash and rotten food. The children did not have an appropriate place to sleep. Alexis was drug tested, but the test was invalid due to the temperature of the sample. Alexis denied having a drug problem and refused inpatient treatment. The children were removed due to Alexis’s drug 2 use, Garrett’s Law, Alexis’s hindering the investigation, and the previous maltreatment of a child in her care. An ex parte order for emergency custody was entered on June 23. The court found that the Department had been involved with the family since August 13, 2018, and Alexis had received Department services that had not prevented the children’s removal from her custody. On July 27, the circuit court entered the probable-cause order finding that emergency conditions necessitated t