Termination of Parental Rights

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WI Court of Appeals – District III

Case Name: Marathon County Department of Human Services

Case No.: 2021AP1124; 2021AP1125

Officials: STARK, P.J.

Focus: Termination of Parental Rights

Sarah appeals from orders terminating her parental rights to her two daughters, Nora and Abby, based upon her failure to assume parental responsibility for them. Sarah argues that there are genuine issues of material fact and competing reasonable inferences as to whether she had a substantial relationship with her children. She asserts that the circuit court therefore erred by granting partial summary judgment to the Marathon County Department of Human Services (the County) and finding her unfit during the grounds phase of these termination of parental rights (TPR) proceedings.

We conclude that when viewed in the light most favorable to Sarah, there are competing material and reasonable inferences that can be drawn from the undisputed facts as to whether Sarah had a substantial relationship with her daughters, rendering summary judgment improper. Accordingly, we reverse the orders terminating Sarah’s parental rights to Nora and Abby, and we remand for the circuit court to conduct a jury trial on the grounds phase of the TPR proceedings.

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Derek A Hawkins is Corporate Counsel, at Salesforce.