Termination of Parental Rights

Every state has laws providing for the termination of parental rights by a court. Termination ends the legal parent-child relationship. Once the relationship has been terminated, the child is legally free to be placed for adoption.

Most states require a court to determine, by clear and convincing evidence, that a parent is unfit, and that the termination is in the child’s best interests.

The most common grounds to determine a parent unfit include:

• Severe or chronic abuse or neglect

• Sexual abuse

• Abuse or neglect of other children in the household

• Abandonment of the child

• Long-term mental illness or deficiency of the parent(s)

• Long-term alcohol- or drug-induced incapacity of the parent(s)

• Failure to support or maintain contact with the child

• Involuntary termination of the rights of the parent to another child

In addition, state agencies are required to file a petition to terminate parental rights if a child has been in foster care for 15 of the most recent 22 months.