No one wants to see a child’s parental rights be terminated. In an ideal world, every parent is married to the other parent and is able to raise their child. When our not ideal world crashes into a child without a choice, it is incumbent upon the child’s protectors to assess terminating the parental rights.
There are four things the must be proved to the juvenile court in a termination of parental rights case. First, that the parents are unable or unwilling to care for their child. Second, that one of the statutory grounds for termination exist. Third, there there is “no viable alternative” to terminating parental rights. And fourth, that the adoption will serve the child’s best interest.
The prong of finding “no viable alternative” is often pretty hairy in TPR trials. A “viable alternative” is usually defined as a blood relative (within 4 degrees) that is ready and willing to care for the child.
However, it’s a little known fact that finding “no viable alternatives” is not necessary in cases where the natural parent has abandoned the child. This means that the paternal grandmother or maternal aunt or paternal great-aunt might be the best citizens ever to live under the cross of St. Andrew; if the natural parent has abandoned the child the juvenile court and DHR should instruct them to simply keep walking.
To put this in cut-and-paste format for the professionals:
- It is well established that when a parent has abandoned a child, it is not necessary for a party seeking to terminate parental rights to demonstrate that there is no viable alternative to adoption. D.M. v. Jefferson County DHR, 232 So. 3d 237, 242 (Ala. Civ. App. 2017); C.F. v. State DHR, 218 So. 3d 1246, 1251 (Ala. Civ. App. 2016).
This rule of law is often lost through the thousands of cases that plod through the juvenile court system. It’s incumbent on foster and prospective adoptive parents that they gracefully remind the DHR caseworkers, GALs, and DHR attorneys that where there has been abandonment, there is no need to find a viable alternative.
If you are such a foster parent, we encourage you to simply copy and paste the bullet point language above, email it to the decision makers individually and ask them if they think it applies to your foster child’s case.
And, please, don’t hesitate to let us know if we can help.
