Father is in Prison, can I terminate his parental rights?

[krischris]

What is the name of your state? Indiana

When my ex-husband and I divorced we agreed to joint legal custody with him having physical custody of our 2 minor children. He was recently convicted of a Class A Felony and sentenced to 30 years in prison. I picked the children up the day the jury came back with a verdict and filed for a modification of custody. I was awarded full custody with no visitation or support order entered. Is there anything I can do to have his parental rights terminated? I will never receive any support from him for at least the next 15 yrs. and by then my youngest daughter will be 19 yrs old. There is only a phone contact order that was awarded to him and that has to be done while they are with his parents on a visit with them. I am married and my husband wants to adopt the children but I know there is no way my ex would agree to it. Is there any way to force the termination because of his incarceration and because of the offense that he was convicted of? If anyone can help me, please tell me what I can do. I can't really afford an attorney, I did all the papers myself for the modification and filed them myself, but this is a little more complex and I'm not sure what, if anything I can do. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[nextwife]

And what if he appeals and in two years his verdict is thrown out?

 

[MNDad01]

What is the name of your state? Indiana

When my ex-husband and I divorced we agreed to joint legal custody with him having physical custody of our 2 minor children. He was recently convicted of a Class A Felony and sentenced to 30 years in prison. I picked the children up the day the jury came back with a verdict and filed for a modification of custody. I was awarded full custody with no visitation or support order entered. Is there anything I can do to have his parental rights terminated? I will never receive any support from him for at least the next 15 yrs. and by then my youngest daughter will be 19 yrs old. There is only a phone contact order that was awarded to him and that has to be done while they are with his parents on a visit with them. I am married and my husband wants to adopt the children but I know there is no way my ex would agree to it. Is there any way to force the termination because of his incarceration and because of the offense that he was convicted of? If anyone can help me, please tell me what I can do. I can't really afford an attorney, I did all the papers myself for the modification and filed them myself, but this is a little more complex and I'm not sure what, if anything I can do. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I am a father myself and I know most other fathers would be mad at me for saying this.... but I was in prison for 3 years and while I was in prison, one of my children was born. Mom filed for child support and was awarded child support back dated to the time the child was born. It was only based on minumum wage, but at least she's getting something. I'm not a lawyer, but the father does still have the responsibility to at least financially provide for the child and even if he can't do it right now while he's serving time, he will have to pay you that money when he gets out, even if your child is over 18 when he's done serving time. Personally, if I were you, I would not terminate his rights, I would just file for child support. Just an idea....

 

[MandyD]

I am a father myself and I know most other fathers would be mad at me for saying this.... but I was in prison for 3 years and while I was in prison, one of my children was born. Mom filed for child support and was awarded child support back dated to the time the child was born. It was only based on minumum wage, but at least she's getting something. I'm not a lawyer, but the father does still have the responsibility to at least financially provide for the child and even if he can't do it right now while he's serving time, he will have to pay you that money when he gets out, even if your child is over 18 when he's done serving time. Personally, if I were you, I would not terminate his rights, I would just file for child support. Just an idea....

The OP already stated that NO support was ordered.

 

[MNDad01]

The OP already stated that NO support was ordered.

Sorry, I read that but misunderstood her to mean that she didn't ask for it. Thanks for clarifying!

 

[krischris]

I thank you for your input, but here's the thing. He was convicted of a Class A Felony of Battery that resulted in the death of a child under the age of 18. The child in question was 18 months old. He was given the maximum sentence by law and I have spoke with the judge. I don't foresee his conviction being over turned. The evidence that the state presented was to compelling. Even on good time it will be 15 yrs from now that he will be out. By then, as I said before, my youngest daughter will be 19 yrs old. My children are now 5 and 8, they will not have any physical contact with him and if I had it my way, they wouldn't talk to him either. But I didn't want to cut all ties for them. They never talk about him, and my 8 yr old has only asked one time to write him. I let her write, it was Christmas. They call my husband DAD and he is the one that is taking care of them. He is the one that is there for them emotionally, physically (actually around) and financially. Their biological father is not.

I am their mother and I just want was is best for them. If that means cutting all ties with the biological father that so be it. I am the only one who has any say in what happens to them until they are 18. Not him. When we divorced he used to tell me he would do what ever was in his power to make sure my kids hated me, and I would never see them, he would make sure that he would take them away from me. HA! Well God had a different plan for me. Not only did he lose HIS freedom, he lost his kids as well, and guess who has them? The one he said he would take them away from. He is an arrogant person who thinks everything will always go his way, one way or another.

I don't think that by me terminating his rights (after he's been incarcerated for about 2 yrs) will have any adverse effects on my children. It is what is best for them. Not me, but them. If I wanted to act like him, I would ask for child support, and I'd let it rack up until he got out of prison then go after him. The only reason that I let my children go to his parents for visits is because my kids are so close to their grandpa. That is who took care of them while they lived there. But he is in bad health, been diagnosed with colon cancer, has COPD, and other things. When he passes, they won't go back. Maybe I will ask for support. That's just one more strike against him when he doesn't pay, but I'm sure his mom will try to bail him out on that one too. She'll probably end up paying it for him.

If anyone else has anything to add, please do. Any help is greatly appreciated!
God Bless
<><

 

[stealth2]

Given the circumstances, I think your chances are better than even. And yes, warranted. Good luck.

 

[ceara19]

The fact that he will be incarcerated until the children are adults and that he is in prison for a crime against a child are both strong arguments for terminating his parental rights. If your husband wants to adopt the children, it would only make your case for termination stronger. What was his relationship to the child he has been convicted of killing?

 

[LdiJ]

Ditto what Stealth and Ceara said. You definitely would have a better than decent shot at terminating his rights.

 

[krischris]

The child that passed was his live in girlfriends son. They had lived there for around 6 months or so. My girls hated her. They always told me that she was mean to them, things like she would pull their hair and stuff. I wasn't a saved person then and I told their dad that he better get a control on her or I would deal with it myself.

My husband is willing to adopt them. In fact, he is the one that brought it up in the first place.

I spoke to the judge when I had to appear for the modification of custody hearing (he didn't show up for that, I guess they wouldn't transport him) about the charges and such. Same judge sentenced him to 30 years that handled the custody issue too. He told me that if they were to have charged him with neglect, it would have carried the same penalty that the battery charge did. He seemed to think that his appeal wouldn't go through either.
We'll see. I know the appeals process can take a very long time.

 

[MrsK]

Ditto what Stealth and Ceara said. You definitely would have a better than decent shot at terminating his rights.

Me three.

He beat an 18 month old so bad he died? That is just sick.

 

[fairisfair]

YOU can not petition to terminate his rights. Indiana is very circumspect in the list of person that have to ability to do so. A parent is NOT one of them.

http://www.ssw.umich.edu/icwtp/legalIssues/d-grounds.pdf

 

[LdiJ]

YOU can not petition to terminate his rights. Indiana is very circumspect in the list of person that have to ability to do so. A parent is NOT one of them.

http://www.ssw.umich.edu/icwtp/legalIssues/d-grounds.pdf

Actually, that is not correct. In Indiana a parent absolutely can petition to involuntarily terminate the other parent's parental rights. It generally won't be granted unless circumstances are either truly dire, or unless their is a stepparent who is willing to adopt, and there is good cause. (ie abandonment).

I only glanced at the document you to linked to, but I know this for a fact as I have been involved in cases that involved involuntary TPRs.

 

[ceara19]

The child that passed was his live in girlfriends son. They had lived there for around 6 months or so. My girls hated her. They always told me that she was mean to them, things like she would pull their hair and stuff. I wasn't a saved person then and I told their dad that he better get a control on her or I would deal with it myself.

My husband is willing to adopt them. In fact, he is the one that brought it up in the first place.

I spoke to the judge when I had to appear for the modification of custody hearing (he didn't show up for that, I guess they wouldn't transport him) about the charges and such. Same judge sentenced him to 30 years that handled the custody issue too. He told me that if they were to have charged him with neglect, it would have carried the same penalty that the battery charge did. He seemed to think that his appeal wouldn't go through either.
We'll see. I know the appeals process can take a very long time.

The fact that he lived with the child, even though they weren't related, makes it even worse (not that ANY child dying at the hands of an adult is any less tragic).

If he wanted to appear at the last hearing, the state would have arranged transportation. Personally, I wouldn't wait for him to exhaust his appeals. Even IF he could have the battery conviction changed to simple neglect, you still have grounds to terminate his rights. If you go the adoption route, your ex could voluntarily relinquish rights. If he's not willing to cooperate, use the child support issue as leverage.

 

[krischris]

Well, the story goes as so.... He didn't actually beat the child to death, so he says. He was very distraught when the child passed. Very emotional, but no one was there but him and the child. The girlfriend was on her way to meet me to drop the kids off. He said he sat the baby on the counter and went to run a bath for him. The child fell off the counter. But the reports say "Blunt force trauma to the head". I'm not a doctor, but I did speak with the welfare department and they told me what the hospital said. He had a hemorrhage in his eye, and no brain function when he arrived at the hospital along with a lot of other things I won't go into detail about. To disturbing. Here's the kicker. My ex WAS an EMT. I don't know. You think you know a person. We were together for almost 9 yrs.

I spoke with an attorney that informed me i should wait till the appeal process is over before I pursue termination, but he thought that I would not have any problem with the termination as long as my husband wanted to adopt.