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Child Custody Cases

• Parenting Plan
• Emergency Orders
• Temporary Orders
• Permanent Orders
• Modification of Parenting Time
• Relocation
• Termination of Parenting Rights
• Enforcement of Child Custody Orders
• Unmarried Parents
• Grandparents' Rights

Divorce Booklet

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Termination of Parental Rights

Colorado courts can only terminate the legal relationship between a parent and a child by one of three ways, each of which is described below:

Dependency & Neglect

Dependency and Neglect actions can be long, complex proceedings in Colorado. The courts necessarily favor finding ways of helping a parent care for a child over terminating a parent-child relationship. It is typical to see intervention by a department of human services, police and several other government agencies in these cases.

However, the court can terminate parental rights if it finds:

• that the parent is unfit;
• a child or sibling has suffered serious bodily injury as a result of an act or neglect by a parent and no suitable treatment plan can be devised;
• a child has been abandoned by the parent;
• a pattern of abuse exists, or an act of extreme cruelty or torture has been inflicted on the child by either parent;
• the parent is incarcerated without possibility for release for a set period of time (differs based on the age of the child);

The legal standard that applies in Dependency and Neglect cases is significantly higher than the standard applied in most civil cases. The court must find the evidence supporting its findings to be clear and convincing, rather than simply more likely than not.

Relinquishment

This is simply a request by the parent to terminate the legal parent-child relationship. Courts go to some length to ensure the parent is aware that termination of rights really means what it sounds like. The court may order mandatory counseling for both the parent and the child, and will only grant relinquishment if that request is found to be in the best interests of the child. An expedited relinquishment procedure can apply if the child is younger than one year or age. If granted, all parental rights and decision making authority are abandoned.

Abandonment

Abandonment outside the dependency and neglect context comes into play when the other parent remarries and the step parent would like to adopt. In this circumstance, the adopting step-parent must actually marry the other natural parent, the natural parent must agree to the adoption, and show that the other natural parent has either abandoned the child for at least one year, or failed to provide reasonable support for the child for at least one year. Once this is shown, the court may terminate the parental rights of the parent who abandoned the child, and allow adoption by the step-parent.

Termination of parental rights is a very final and powerful act by the court. If you would like to discuss termination of parental rights with an attorney who specializes in family law, call (720) 201-3802, or send your question directly to an attorney by clicking here.