{"id":861,"date":"2018-05-06T21:43:26","date_gmt":"2018-05-06T21:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/?page_id=861"},"modified":"2025-01-28T16:33:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T16:33:06","slug":"termination-of-parental-rights","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/index.php\/termination-of-parental-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Termination of Parental Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-865 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Court-Hammer-Free-PNG-Image-300x225.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"328\" height=\"246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Court-Hammer-Free-PNG-Image-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Court-Hammer-Free-PNG-Image-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Court-Hammer-Free-PNG-Image-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Court-Hammer-Free-PNG-Image-360x270.png 360w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 328px) 100vw, 328px\" \/><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">WHAT IS TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Termination of Parental Rights means\u00a0that a person&#8217;s\u00a0rights\u00a0as a\u00a0parent\u00a0are taken away.\u00a0 The person is not legally the child&#8217;s\u00a0parent\u00a0anymore. When parental rights are terminated, the parent\u00a0loses the right\u00a0to visit or talk with the child.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 has impacted the termination of parental rights for incarcerated parents.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">WHAT IS THE ADOPTION AND SAFE FAMILIES ACT?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 is a Federal law that was passed with the intent to increase the placement of foster children in permanent.\u00a0 It was designed to speed up the process of putting a child in a permanent home and reducing the amount of time that a child might be shuffled around in the foster care system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Unfortunately, the ASFA guidelines that were meant to be helpful in expediting permanent placements has created a very real barrier to reunification of incarcerated mothers and their children.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">WHAT ARE THE BARRIERS CREATED BY THE ADOPTION AND SAFE FAMILIES ACT?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">More than half of incarcerated mothers report being single parents which increases the likelihood of their children being placed in the foster care system upon their arrest.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Under the Adoption and Safe Families Act, child welfare workers are required to:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">make reasonable efforts to safely reunite children with their parents<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">plan for permenancy placement options while working for family reunification<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>file for\u00a0termination of parental right<em style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>\u00a0(TPR)\u00a0once children have been in foster care for 15 of the most recent 22 month<\/strong><\/em>s<\/strong><\/em>, except in certain allowable circumstances,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #000080;\">and encourages States to expedite TPR in specific situations of severe harm inflicted on children\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">to document efforts to find adoptive or other permanent placements for children, including placements with fit and willing relatives<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">give preference when making placement decisions to adult relatives over nonrelative caregivers when relative caregivers meet all relevant State child protection standards<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">emphasize adult relatives over non-relative caregivers when relative caregivers meet all relevant State child protection standards when making placement decisions<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The average sentence of an incarcerated parent is 80 to 100 months, well beyond the 15 month timeline for the termination of parental rights.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">HOW ARE PARENTAL RIGHTS TERMINATED?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Parental rights can be terminated either voluntarily or involuntarily. Both ways are done in a court with a judge making the decision.\u00a0 All decisions are made in the best interest of the child or children.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u00a0Voluntary termination of parental rights<\/em> <\/strong>eliminates all rights and duties you have for your child. This process cannot be reversed. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Parents often give up their rights as part of an adoption proceeding or when they cannot properly care for their children.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>Involuntary termination of parental rights\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>occurs when a third party, like the state, local Department of Social Services, or an individual files a petition to terminate parental rights.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">WHAT CAN CAUSE AN INVOLUNTARY TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">There are two ways to prove the parent\u2019s rights should be terminated:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">exceptional circumstances exist or <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">the parent is unfit <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The petitioner must prove the parent is either unfit or that there are exceptional circumstances for termination of parental rights by clear and convincing evidence. Clear and convincing evidence is a higher standard than preponderance of the evidence but less than beyond a reasonable doubt. <em>It means substantially more likely than not.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Again, the standard courts use to make this decision is the best interest of the child. The court will favor a continuation of the parental relationship unless the parent is determined to be unfit to remain in the parental relationship with the child or to constitute exceptional circumstances that would make a continuation of the parental relationship detrimental to the best interests of the child.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">WHAT THINGS WILL THE COURT CONSIDER WHEN DETERMINING INVOLUNTARY TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The court will take some factors into consideration including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\"> the extent, nature, and timeliness of services offered by a local department of social services to facilitate reunion of parent and child<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">the extent a parent fulfilled their obligations to any social services agreement<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">the extent to which the parent maintained contact with the child, social services, and child\u2019s caregiver<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">parent\u2019s financial contribution to child\u2019s care<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">presence of parental disability that prevents parent from consistently caring for their child<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\"> and generally what efforts the parent is making to be reunited with their child.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Other factors considered include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\"> the child\u2019s emotional ties and feelings toward the child\u2019s parents (and severance of the parent-child relationship) and <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">the child\u2019s adjustment to school, home, the community, and placement.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WHAT IS TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS? Termination of Parental Rights means\u00a0that a person&#8217;s\u00a0rights\u00a0as a\u00a0parent\u00a0are taken away.\u00a0 The person is not legally the child&#8217;s\u00a0parent\u00a0anymore. When parental rights are terminated, the parent\u00a0loses the right\u00a0to visit or talk with the child. The Adoption <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/index.php\/termination-of-parental-rights\/\" class=\"read-more\">Read More &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/861"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1379,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/861\/revisions\/1379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigatingreentry.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}