Grounds for Involuntary Termination of Parental Rights

The termination of parental rights is a decision that family courts in Maine do not take lightly. An order will temporarily or permanently end a parent’s right to make decisions for or spend time with their child—and can legally end their relationship permanently.

Neither voluntary nor involuntary termination of parental rights is encouraged without very good reasons. If both parents’ rights are removed, the child would require adoption or guardianship. If one parent’s rights are terminated, the other parent would be allocated sole parental legal rights and responsibilities.

When the termination is involuntary, a court needs to find that it is in the child’s best interests to end the child-parent relationship. This is contrary to the standard, which is that parents should both play an active role in their children’s lives.

Let’s consider the grounds for involuntary termination of parental rights in Maine, as well as how these rights may be reinstated.

Parental rights and responsibilities is the legal term for “child custody” in Maine, as the term “child custody”is no longer used.

These rights and responsibilities outline parents’ rights and obligations to a child during the co-parenting arrangement after a marriage breaks down and the parents go their separate ways.

Parents usually work together to spend roughly equal time with the child and must divide responsibilities for the child’s care, upbringing, and development. They must make day-to-day decisions about where the child will live and go to school, as well as decisions about the health and general welfare of the child.

Parents must financially support their children, as well as provide food, shelter, emotional support, etc.

Shared parenting is the preferred standard in Maine but, if this is not possible or not desirable, one parent can be awarded sole parental rights and responsibilities.

Very few parents voluntarily terminate their parental rights. Most parental right removal cases involve intervention by the courts for involuntary removal of the rights and responsibilities after the state or a custodial parent or guardian files a petition—but this, too, is relatively rare.

Courts will make such difficult decisions based on what’s best for the child. However, to decide to terminate rights, judges in Maine usually require clear and convincing evidence of child abandonment, child abuse, or child neglect.

Best interests of the child

According to Ann. Stat. Tit. 22, § 4055, if the court sees clear evidence that the termination of parental rights is in the best interests of the child and any of the following apply, a Maine judge has the power to order it:

• The parent is unwilling or unable to protect the child from jeopardy, and these circumstances are unlikely to change within a reasonable time.
• The parent has been unwilling or unable to take responsibility for the child within a time that is reasonably calculated to meet the child’s needs.
• The child has been abandoned.
• The parent has failed to make a good-faith effort to rehabilitate and reunify with the child.

Protecting the child from imminent jeopardy

The court may presume that the parent is unwilling or unable to protect the child from jeopardy and these circumstances are unlikely to change within a time which is reasonably calculated to meet the child’s needs if any of the following apply:

• The parent has acted toward a child in a manner that is heinous or abhorrent to society or has failed to protect a child in a manner that is heinous or abhorrent to society, without regard to the intent of the parent.
• The parent has been convicted of any of the following, and the victim was a child for whom the parent was responsible, or the victim was a child who was a member of a household lived in or frequented by the parent:
  • Murder, felony murder, or manslaughter
  • Aiding or soliciting suicide or aggravated assault
  • Rape, gross sexual misconduct or gross sexual assault, sexual abuse of minors, or incest
  • Kidnapping
  • Promotion of prostitution, sexual exploitation of a minor, sex trafficking, or aggravated sex trafficking
• The child has been placed in the legal custody or care of the Department of Health and Human Services, the parent has a chronic substance abuse problem, and the parent’s prognosis indicates that the child will not be able to return to the custody of the parent within a reasonable period of time.
• The child has been placed in the legal custody or care of the Department of Health and Human Services, the court has previously terminated parental rights to another child who is a member of the same family, the parent continues to lack the ability or willingness to show the court that the parent has sought services that would rehabilitate the parent, or the parent cannot show evidence that an additional period of services would result in reunification in a time reasonably calculated to meet the needs of the child and the child’s need for a permanent home.
• The child has been placed in the legal custody or care of the department for at least 9 months, and the parent has been offered or received services to correct the situation but has refused or made no significant effort to correct the situation.
• The child was conceived as a result of an act by the parent of sexual assault or a comparable crime in another jurisdiction.

Before deciding to terminate parental rights in Maine, a judge will carefully consider the best interests of the child.

In making a determination, the judge will take into account the following factors in addition to the types of circumstances outlined above:

• The physical and emotional needs of the child
• The child’s age
• The child’s attachments to relevant persons
• Any periods of attachments and separation
• The child’s ability to integrate back into the parent’s home
• The child’s ability to integrate into a substitute placement if necessary
• The wishes of the child (appropriate to the age of the child)

Once parental rights have been terminated in Maine, they can only be reinstated through a petition to the court, with clear and convincing evidence presented to show that reinstatement is in the best interest of the child.

The petition to the court will need to include the following information:

• The reasons for the termination
• Evidence of a substantial change in circumstances of the parent that demonstrates the parent has the capacity and willingness to parent the child
• The parent’s consent to the reinstatement
• The willingness of the child for the reinstatement (if older than the age of 12)

The petition must also include a permanency plan that provides for the health and safety of the child and describe how the transition process from the previous parental rights and responsibilities arrangement to the new arrangement will work.

If you need legal assistance with a parental rights matter in Maine, speak to an experienced family law attorney at The Maine Divorce Group during an initial consultation.