Termination of Parental Rights

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WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. L.J.,

Case No.: 2017AP1225; 2017AP1226; 2017AP1227

Officials: BRENNAN, P.J.

Focus: Termination of Parental Rights

L.J. appeals orders terminating her parental rights to three children. First, she seeks to withdraw her no-contest plea to the grounds phase, arguing that her plea was not knowing, intelligent, and voluntary because she was not informed of the burden of proof that would apply at the dispositional hearing. Second, she argues that the statute under which grounds were found for the termination—failure to assume parental responsibility—is unconstitutional as applied to her; she contends the statute creates “an impossible hurdle” because the CHIPS court took away from her the daily supervision of her children and without daily supervision of her children she had no way to establish that she was a fit parent. And third, she argues that the termination order was based on improper evidence—testimony at the disposition phase from foster parents concerning ongoing future contact between the three children and the parents and older siblings—and that trial counsel’s failure to object to it therefore constituted ineffective assistance. We reject her arguments and affirm the orders.

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