Are Financial Responsibilities Terminated When Parental Rights are Severed?

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? California

Currently, my fifteen year old daughter is in a foster home, because her behavior is so intolerable, despite concentrated efforts (therapy, Tough Love, parenting classes, mentor, etc.) to help her, that it was threatening my household (single parent with younger sibling) and younger sibling feels unsafe around older child. We are currently involved in a 6-month reunification process, which is not going well. She is now accustomed to the minimal (bare minimum required) supervision afforded by the single foster parent and will not consider any compromise with respect to her behavior upon her return home. In fact, my daughter wishes to remain in long term foster care.

I am currently exploring voluntarily severing my parental rights. My question is...when parental rights are severed, is your financial responsibility, i.e. foster care costs, child support, etc.) also terminated. I hate to base my decision on the response; however, our (my younger child and I) quality of life will be diminished, so a self-serving teenager gets her way. Please help.

Thank you.

I am currently exploring voluntarily severing my parental rights.

I doubt that this allowed in your state. Check with a family law attorney.

You can't get rid of your kids that easily...if you could, the courts would be clogged and folks would be lined up in droves around the courthouse.

Too Much Past History to Record Here

Child Protective Services has stated that if my daughter and I agree, parental rights can be severed. It is my opinion, that my daughter wants the rights severed to manipulate the "system" to obtain the placement she desires. Again, my question is, if parental rights are severed, is the financial responsibility also severed, as far as mandated support.

Any further thoughts?

rebeccalm said:

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? California

Currently, my fifteen year old daughter is in a foster home, because her behavior is so intolerable, despite concentrated efforts (therapy, Tough Love, parenting classes, mentor, etc.) to help her, that it was threatening my household (single parent with younger sibling) and younger sibling feels unsafe around older child. We are currently involved in a 6-month reunification process, which is not going well. She is now accustomed to the minimal (bare minimum required) supervision afforded by the single foster parent and will not consider any compromise with respect to her behavior upon her return home. In fact, my daughter wishes to remain in long term foster care.

I am currently exploring voluntarily severing my parental rights. My question is...when parental rights are severed, is your financial responsibility, i.e. foster care costs, child support, etc.) also terminated. I hate to base my decision on the response; however, our (my younger child and I) quality of life will be diminished, so a self-serving teenager gets her way. Please help.

Thank you.

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If you are in the middle of a 6-month reunification process...why are you considering severing parental rights? How long have you and your daughter been in counseling? Do you see a counselor individually? Does your younger child see a counselor? It's understandable that you may feel overwhelmed... Severing your parental rights seems extremely drastic...especially since you are currently in a reunification process... If that is unsuccessful...there must be alternative things that can be tried... Hasn't the current counselor(s) spoken of alternatives? What do they plan to do when the reunification is completed and yet unsuccessful?

Question: If you are in the middle of a 6-month reunification process...why are you considering severing parental rights?

Answer: We are at 4-1/2 months without any joint therapy, as her therapist feels they are still in the rapport-building stage and joint therapy could prove disruptive to their fragile newfound trust.

Question: How long have you and your daughter been in counseling?

Answer: Prior to Children's Protective Services, we have been in counseling since 2000.

Question: Do you see a counselor individually?

Answer: Been in therapy since a teenager. The world would be a nicer place if everyone had a therapist.

Question: Does your younger child see a counselor?
Answer: Younger child has been in therapy since her older sister's return.

General response to remainder of questions:

If reunification is not successful, the Court will sever my parental rights. My older daughter is lobbying, on a daily basis, to have my rights severed. She's had a taste of the sweet life, minimal supervision with the benefit of mommy's money. She has no yet had the "shoe" pinch her foot.

The reason she's in foster care is due to her behavior, being called on it, getting pissed off, making unfounded accusations and my refusal to allow her to come home to continue her attempts at my destruction. Her behavior is so bad, even my parents who raised her most of her refuse to allow her to return to their respective homes, nor will her own father allow her to return.

Alternatives are long term foster care costing nearly $700 per month until she turns 18. This alternative allows her to have things exactly the way she likes it, while her sister and I will be forced to move into a smaller apartment and live on a severely reduced scale. I understand there's a price to being a parent; however, I don't see how a willfully disobedient self-serving teenager's interests should outweigh her family's. Call me crazy.

Her behavior is so bad, even my parents who raised her most of her refuse to allow her to return to their respective homes, nor will her own father allow her to return.


Q: I am currently exploring voluntarily severing my parental rights. My question is...when parental rights are severed, is your financial responsibility, i.e. foster care costs, child support, etc.) also terminated.

A: Any expense incurred by a child AFTER the termination not be the parents' responsibility.


Why is she not living with you?

Why did grandpa and grandma raise her?

Question: Why is she not living with you?

Answer: One day we explored her emotional immaturity due to her repeated attempts to get pregnant and my opinion that she should not have a boyfriend until she addressed this compulsion. I dropped her off at school where she proceeded to tell her counselor that I said I was going to kill her and myself. Child Protective Services contacted me. My daughter's credibility was immediately nullified when a crucial (concrete wall) element of her story was proven to be non-existent. At this point, realizing that she would stoop at nothing to avoid her issues, I refused to allow her to come home, as I was certain further discussions/disputes regarding her behavior would result in an escalation of her attempts to destroy her family.

Question: Why did grandpa and grandma raise her?

Answer: I married my daughter's father when I was eighteen. I endured serious physical abuse throughout our marriage, when I finally threw him out when my daughter was two years old. I was extremely depressed and my parents offered to take in my daughter so I would have time to deal with the depression. During this time, I got involved with things not conducive to parenting, because my parents and I didn't want my daughter exposed to these things, I didn't get to see her often, which added to the depression, depression led to bad things, and so the vicious cycle went until my daughter was eight. I went to drug rehab (3/17/05 was my 8th anniversary), attended school and got a decent job. My parents had her for over 9 years, they were her "Mom" and "Dad", because they didn't want anyone to know something might be wrong, because their granddaughter lived with them. As soon as they began having problems with my daughter, they shipped her back to me now that my life was straightened out.

So let me get this straight.. You are wanting to TEMPOARLY give up your rights but the thing that you are worried about is if you will have to pay money or not? Yeah I don't even think that you can TEMPOARLY give up rights to your child and then get them back later. Did you ever think that the reason why she wants to stay there is because they let her do anything she wants?

Jillian483 said:

So let me get this straight.. You are wanting to TEMPOARLY give up your rights but the thing that you are worried about is if you will have to pay money or not? Yeah I don't even think that you can TEMPOARLY give up rights to your child and then get them back later. Did you ever think that the reason why she wants to stay there is because they let her do anything she wants?

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Umm, from the original posts, and the ones following, one could probably make the assumption that Mother wants to have her parental rights/obligations COMPLETELY severed, not temporarily reassigned.

And, it seems pretty clear that the Mother is certain that's why the daughter wants to stay in Foster Care. It also seems pretty clear that the Mother wants to do this so that she can save herself and her younger daughter.

OP ~ As someone else already said, if your rights are severed, so are your obligations.

To: CJane

You hit the nail on the head. Thank you.

TPR could be a big IF

Please read the FAQs on termination of parental rights at www.ncsconline.org. Even includes a Memo from California Dept of Social Services. Although it CA law provides that a petition for TPR should be initiated when a child has spent 15 of the last 22 months in foster care; it also seems that a compelling reason NOT to grant TPR is when the adoption of the child is not the permanent goal or extremely unlikely and will not interfere with foster placement of the child. This apparently is also considered a compelling reason by the federal govt & states must follow it to keep receiving federal funding for certain programs. That's just my interpretation, please read it for yourself. You might want to do a search for similiar court cases in your area.

Are you the only one responsible for paying for the foster care? It seems her biological father should be equally sharing the cost, does he have to pay? He certainly should.

Having a delinquent, rebellious child is a real heartache and living in your home again certainly may not be the solution best for your family. But I don't think it is right that you can totally dump your responsibilities on the state. By your own admission, you gave her up to your parents for half of her life due to your drug addiction. Now, you're paying the price. Too bad you didn't voluntarily TPR when she was only 2 and had a good chance of being adopted by a couple who would have really wanted her.

Hope it works out for everyone, but my real sympathy is for your daughter, not you. May she find the strength to turn her life around. Don't give up on her, you turned your life around after several years of bad decisions, so can she.

I think seniorjudge was correct - if giving up kids was that easy, the courts would be clogged!