Termination of Parental Rights

Listen to this article

WI Court of Appeals – District IV

Case Name: Monroe County Department of Human Services v. T.M

Case No.: 2017AP875; 2017AP876

Officials: KLOPPENBURG, J.

Focus: Termination of Parental Rights

T.M. seeks reversal of the orders terminating her parental rights to M.A.B. and M.B. T.M. argues that her due process rights were violated when she was found at trial to have abandoned her children based, in part, on a time period during which the County conditionally suspended T.M.’s parental visitation rights. More specifically, T.M.’s argument is that the circuit court’s application of WIS. STAT. § 48.415(1) violated her substantive due process rights for three reasons, which she states as follows: (1) the period of abandonment included the period during which the County suspended her visits with her children conditioned on terms that were impossible for her to meet; (2) the jury was allowed to “count toward [the] period of abandonment” the period of time in which the County conditionally suspended her visits with her children, but the jury would not have been allowed to count that period of time if the visits were suspended by court order; and (3) the County was not required to prove that it made reasonable efforts to assist T.M. in meeting the conditions, as “would have been the case had the [County] alleged the ground of continuing CHIPS pursuant to WIS. STAT. § 48.415(2).” For the reasons set forth below, I address and reject each reason as stated by T.M. and affirm.

Full Text

Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.