Baker, J.
A.S. (Mother) appeals the termination of her parent-child relationship with L.S. (Child), arguing that the trial court erred by admitting certain evidence and that the evidence was insufficient. Finding no reversible error and the evidence sufficient, we affirm.
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During the factfinding hearing, DCS offered Exhibits Sixteen and Seventeen into evidence. Each exhibit was an affidavit of Bridget Lemberg, the laboratory director of Forensic Fluids Laboratories, Inc. In the affidavits, Lemberg detailed the laboratory’s procedures and stated that the procedures were followed for Mother’s drug tests; the results of Mother’s drug tests from August 31 and October 12, 2016, and May 3, 2017, were attached to the affidavits. Mother objected to the admission of these exhibits, arguing that the test results appeared to be unreliable and that the forensic lab technician was not there to testify. The State argued that the drug test results could be admitted because they met the requirements of the business records exception to the rule against hearsay.
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The exhibits that contain Mother’s drug test results do not fall under the business records exception to the rule against hearsay. Although the affidavits state that the laboratory reports were maintained in the normal course of business activity as business records, what we consider is whether a business depends on those records to function. Forensic Fluids Laboratories does not depend on these records to operate or to conduct business. Rather, the drug test results were documented for the benefit of DCS. Therefore, these exhibits were inadmissible as hearsay and should not have been admitted over Mother’s timely objection. See id. at 644-45 (finding that reports of home visits and supervised visitations made for an Office of Family and Children did not qualify as business records because no organization depended on them to operate a business). Admission of this evidence requires expert testimony and the opportunity for cross-examination.
The trial court erred by admitting the exhibits into evidence. Nonetheless, as discussed below, the trial court’s determination is supported by substantial evidence independent of these two exhibits that satisfy us that its determination stands without reliance on these two exhibits.
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In sum, even excluding the improperly admitted evidence, we find that the juvenile court did not err by finding that DCS established by clear and convincing evidence that the conditions resulting in Child’s removal are not likely to be remedied. [Footnote omitted.]
The judgment of the juvenile court is affirmed.
Najam, J., and Robb, J., concur.