In re Interest of Eden K. & Allison L.
Filed on July 3, 2006
14 Neb. App. 867, 717 N.W.2d 507
SUMMARY: The court reversed the juvenile court’s termination order finding that termination was not in the children’s best interests. The court found that “the State almost completely failed to provide the juvenile courts with testimony from many of the people whose opinions and observations would have been most pertinent” to the issue, such as the children’s therapists and foster parents. The court also focused on the fact that there was no evidence that the children were candidates for adoption or that terminating would provide the children with any additional permanency.
A mother appeals an order terminating her parental rights and overruling her motion for continued visitation. She alleges that the juvenile court erred “when it refused to allow testimony regarding alternatives to terminating [her] parental rights.”
The Court of Appeals concluded that the State proved by clear and convincing evidence one of the statutory grounds for pursuing termination. However, the State failed to prove the other necessary requirement for termination, namely that termination was in the children’s best interests. The only witnesses that testified at the termination hearing were: the DHHS case manager, the DHHS protection and safety worker, and two caseworkers. While there testimony focuses on the fact that the children deserved permanency, there was “no evidence that adoption” was a possibility. There was “nothing in the record to suggest that” termination in this case “would provide the children with any more permanency than they would have otherwise.” There was no testimony presented by either the children’s therapist or foster parents.
There was some testimony presented at the termination proceeding which indicated that the mother “ha[d] made some positive strides in her life.” Although the court was quick to point out that this did not erase the mother’s past parenting faults, it did also note that “termination of parental rights is permissible in the absence of any reasonable alternative and as the last resort to dispose of an action brought pursuant to the Nebraska Juvenile Code.” The court concluded that the State failed to prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that terminating parental rights would be in the children’s best interests.
Tags: adoption, best interests, clear and convincing, evidence, failed, failure, permanency, provide, testimony, therapists, tpr
