Baker, J.
T.J. (Mother) appeals the trial court’s order terminating her parent-child relationship with B.J. (Child). Mother argues that the trial court erred by denying her motion to continue the termination hearing based on DCS’s failure to provide her with statutorily required notice of the hearing. We find that DCS failed to comply with the statute but that the trial court acted within its discretion in denying the motion to continue. Therefore, we affirm.
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Mother’s sole argument on appeal is that DCS failed to give her statutorily required notice of the factfinding hearing and that as a result, her due process rights were violated when the trial court denied her motion to continue.
The decision to grant or deny a motion to continue is within the trial court’s sound discretion, and we will reverse only where the trial court reaches a conclusion that is clearly against the logic and effect of the facts or the reasonable and probable deductions that may be drawn therefrom…
… There is no evidence in the record that DCS provided notice of the January 2018 factfinding hearing to Mother. We must determine first, whether such notice was required; and second, whether, if required, the lack of notice entitles Mother to relief.
First, the plain language of the statute clearly requires that DCS provide notice of a termination hearing to a child’s parent at least ten days before the hearing…
That said, we must still determine whether the lack of such notice in this case entitles Mother to relief. Initially, we note that the statute does not contain a remedy for the failure to provide a parent with notice of a hearing. It does, however, state that the trial court “shall continue the hearing if, at the time of the hearing, the department has not provided the court with signed verification from the foster parent” that the foster parent received notice. I.C. § 31-35-2- 6.5(f). The statute contains no such continuance requirement with respect to the child’s parent. We interpret that to mean that the legislature left it to the trial court to determine, in its discretion, whether a continuance is warranted if DCS failed to provide this statutorily required notice.
In this case, the termination hearing was continued, at Mother’s own request, from November 7, 2017, to January 30, 2018. The trial court sent Mother notice of the new hearing date at her last known address, which was the DOC facility where she had been incarcerated. She apparently did not receive the notice because she was released from the DOC on or about November 1, 2017, which is the same date on which the trial court sent her the order…
Under these circumstances, we find that the trial court did not err by denying Mother’s motion to continue the termination hearing. We likewise find that the procedural irregularity did not violate Mother’s due process rights under the specific facts of this case because the original hearing date was continued at her own request and she failed to provide current contact information after being released from the DOC. See In re T.W., 831 N.E.2d 1242, 1247 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005) (holding that a procedural irregularity is not automatically a violation of a parent’s due process rights).
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
May, J., and Robb, J., concur