Terminating Parental Rights

Courts consider the rights of a parent to be fundamental.  Even so, each state has laws providing for the termination of parental rights.  The severing of parental rights ends the legal parent-child relationship. Whether it is voluntary or involuntary, termination of parental rights can only be accomplished by court order.  Birth parents who wish to place their children up for adoption may voluntarily relinquish all rights they have as a parent.  Courts, however, are reluctant to terminate parental rights involuntarily even when one parent is less than ideal. Judges resist relieving that parent of his or her rights, which include the obligation to raise the child and pay for his or her care.  It is extremely difficult to terminate parental rights involuntarily, and courts will do so only in rare circumstances, only after the utmost scrutiny and in the most extreme cases. 

  When addressing whether parental rights should be terminated involuntarily, Pennsylvania requires that a petition be filed.   Then the court must be satisfied by clear and convincing evidence one or more of the following: (1) the parent has demonstrated a purposeful abandonment of the child for at least six months; (2) the parent is shown to have continued incapacity or has abused, neglected or refused to provide the child with essential care, control or subsistence necessary for the child's physical or mental well-being and those conditions are not likely to be remedied by the parent; (3) the parent is the presumptive but not the natural father of the child (4) the child is in the custody of an agency, and the parent's identity or whereabouts are unknown and cannot be determined within three months after the child is found; (5) the child has been removed from the care of the parent and placed with an agency for at least six months, the conditions which led to the removal continue and are not likely to be remedied; (6) the parent of a newborn has reason to know of the child's birth, does not reside with the child, and for four months preceding the filing of the petition has failed to make reasonable efforts to make contact with the child or provide substantial financial support for the child; or (7) the parent is the father of a child conceived as a result of a rape or incest.

  The court must also take into account the bond of the parent and child as well as whether severing the parent-child relationship is in the child's best interest and welfare.  The rights of a parent cannot be terminated solely on the basis of environmental factors such as inadequate housing, furnishings, income, clothing, and medical care, if found to be beyond the control of the parent.

  Once the parental relationship has been terminated, the child is legally free of the bond to the parent whose rights have been terminated.  In some instances, the parental rights of one parent are terminated so the child can be adopted by the spouse of the other parent.  In other circumstances the parental rights of both parents may be terminated so the child can be a adopted by a more stable, permanent family environment that can meet the child's long-term parenting needs. Under the appropriate circumstances our office can help with this procedure.

- J. Ken Butera