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Taking away parental rights

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orphngrl

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? N.C.

My husband and I currently have what they call temporary/permanent custody of our 3 year old granddaughter. The ex- son in law never takes the 3 hour a week supervised visitation he has been awarded. He has not seen his daughter in 4 months, and once in a while (maybe every 5 months he sends a check for $320.00. Our daughter has abondoned her and is currently running from the law. We have no idea where she is. I would like to have both of their parental rights taken away, so we may adopt her. Does any one have information on how to go about doing this.
 


rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
Statute: § 7B-1111

Circumstances That Are Grounds for Termination

Abandonment or Extreme Parental Disinterest

Abuse/Neglect

Mental Illness or Deficiency

Alcohol or Drug Induced Incapacity

Failure of Reasonable Efforts

Abuse/Neglect or Loss of Rights of Another Child

Failure to Provide Support

Failure to Establish Paternity

Child Judged in Need of Services/Dependent

Child's Best Interest

Child in care 15 of 22 months (or less)

Felony assault of child or sibling

Murder/Manslaughter of sibling child

Circumstances That Are Not Grounds for Termination

Felony Conviction/Incarceration

Sexual Abuse

Failure to Maintain Contact

N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 7B-1111 (Lexis, WESTLAW through N.C. 2003 Legis. Serv., S.L. 2003-140)

The court may terminate parental rights upon a finding of one or more of the following:

The parent has abused or neglected the juvenile.

The parent has willfully left the juvenile in foster care or placement outside the home for more than 12 months without showing to the satisfaction of the court that reasonable progress under the circumstances has been made in correcting those conditions which led to the removal of the juvenile. Provided, however, that no parental rights shall be terminated for the sole reason that the parents are unable to care for the juvenile on account of their poverty.

The juvenile has been placed in the custody of a
county Department of Social Services, a licensed
child-placing agency, a child-caring institution,
or a foster home, and the parent, for a
continuous period of 6 months next preceding the
filing of the petition has willfully failed for
such period to pay a reasonable portion of the
cost of the care for the juvenile although
physically and financially able to do so.

One parent has been awarded custody of the
juvenile by judicial decree or has custody by
agreement of the parents, and the other parent
whose parental rights are sought to be terminated
has for a period of 1 year or more next preceding
the filing of the petition willfully failed
without justification to pay for the care,
support, and education of the juvenile, as
required by said decree or custody agreement.

The father of a juvenile born out of wedlock has
not, prior to the filing of a petition to
terminate his parental rights established
paternity judicially or by affidavit which has
been filed in a central registry maintained by
the Department of Health and Human Service;
provided, the court shall inquire of the
Department of Health and Human Services as to
whether such affidavit has been filed and shall
incorporate into the case record the department's
certified reply; or legitimated the juvenile or
filed a petition for this specific purpose; or
legitimated the juvenile by marriage to the
mother of the child; or provided substantial
financial support or consistent care with respect
to the juvenile and mother.

That the parent is incapable of providing the
proper care and supervision of the juvenile, such
that the juvenile is a dependent juvenile, and
that there is a reasonable probability that such
incapacity will continue for the foreseeable
future. Incapability may be the result of
substance abuse, mental retardation, mental
illness, organic brain syndrome, or any other
cause or condition that renders the parent unable
or unavailable to parent the juvenile and the
parent lacks an appropriate alternative child
care arrangement.

The parent has willfully abandoned the juvenile
for at least 6 consecutive months immediately
preceding the filing of the petition or motion,
or the parent has voluntarily abandoned an infant
pursuant to § 7B-500 for at least 60 consecutive
days immediately preceding the filing of the
petition or motion.

The parent has committed murder or voluntary
manslaughter of another child of the parent or
other child residing in the home; has aided,
abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited to
commit murder or voluntary manslaughter of the
child, another child of the parent, or other
child residing in the home; or has committed
felony assault that results in serious bodily
injury to the child, another child of the parent,
or another child residing in the home.

The parental rights of the parent with respect to
another child of the parent have been terminated
involuntarily by a court of competent
jurisdiction and the parent lacks the ability or
willingness to establish a safe home.

The burden in such proceedings shall be upon the
petitioner or movant to prove the facts
justifying such termination by clear and
convincing evidence.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
orphngrl said:
What is the name of your state? N.C.

My husband and I currently have what they call temporary/permanent custody of our 3 year old granddaughter. The ex- son in law never takes the 3 hour a week supervised visitation he has been awarded. He has not seen his daughter in 4 months, and once in a while (maybe every 5 months he sends a check for $320.00. Our daughter has abondoned her and is currently running from the law. We have no idea where she is. I would like to have both of their parental rights taken away, so we may adopt her. Does any one have information on how to go about doing this.
Sorry, but I don't think that you are going to be able to do that unless dad consents. You may be able to terminate your daughter's parental rights for abandonment if she has been gone long enough (In most states it requires a full year of no contact at all nor any child support) however you are not going to be able to terminate dad's.
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
LdiJ said:
Sorry, but I don't think that you are going to be able to do that unless dad consents. You may be able to terminate your daughter's parental rights for abandonment if she has been gone long enough (In most states it requires a full year of no contact at all nor any child support) however you are not going to be able to terminate dad's.
OR, if dad doesn't visit the child or contribute to support for at least 6 months!
The parent has willfully abandoned the juvenile for at least 6 consecutive months immediately preceding the filing of the petition or motion
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
LdiJ said:
So far dad hasn't done that.
I didn't say he had, only that it is only 6 months not 1 year and so far he has not visited his child and sends support once every 5 months, there may come a time when he doesn't, then they can file if and or when it is 6 months or more without contact. That is the LAW, not opinion.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
rmet4nzkx said:
I didn't say he had, only that it is only 6 months not 1 year and so far he has not visited his child and sends support once every 5 months, there may come a time when he doesn't, then they can file if and or when it is 6 months or more without contact. That is the LAW, not opinion.
That is correct, that is the law. However, I suspect that dad knows that, or has had someone advise him of that, since he manages to squeek in the child support just often enough. I have also seen a lot of judges refuse to TPR after only six months, even when the law allows for that.

However, if they get lucky, and he misses the mark, they can certainly try. However the holidays are looming, and he probably has a family, so its quite possible that he will visit and the cycle will restart anyway.
 

ken1001

Junior Member
parental rights

we have legal and physical custody of our 2 grand kids. we live in georgia after 30 days of no support you can go for abandonment ,but i do reccomend you see a good attorney that handles these matters keep up the good work we went to magistrate ct it was free for doing the abandonment,but she showed up and payed
 
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rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
ken1001 said:
we have legal and physical custody of our 2 grand kids. we live in georgia after 30 days of no support you can go for abandonment ,but i do reccomend you see a good attorney that handles these matters keep up the good work we went to magistrate ct it was free for doing the abandonment,but she showed up and payed
But OP is in NC not GA and there the law is different and OP was advised of their state specific options.
 

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