Title: Ex parte A.P.
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 1140270
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: February 27, 2015

REL:  02/27/2015
Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance
sheets of Southern Reporter.  Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions,
Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334)
229-0649), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made
before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter.
SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA
OCTOBER TERM, 2014-2015
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1140270
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Ex parte A.P.
PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI
TO THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
(In re:  A.P.
v.
Tuscaloosa County Department of Human Resources)
(Tuscaloosa Juvenile Court, JU-12-425.02 and JU-12-426.02;
Court of Civil Appeals, 2130791)
WISE, Justice.
WRIT DENIED.  NO OPINION.
Stuart, Bolin, Parker, Murdock, Shaw, Main, and Bryan,
JJ., concur.  
Moore, C.J., dissents.
1140270
MOORE, Chief Justice (dissenting). 
I respectfully dissent. The petition before us presents
the issue whether the Tuscaloosa County Department of Human
Resources ("DHR") met its burden to investigate family
resources and placement options before petitioning to
terminate A.P.'s parental rights when the record indicates
otherwise. DHR did not consider three willing paternal
relatives because of their failure to provide certain
documents.
"Inasmuch as the termination of parental rights strikes
at the very heart of the family unit, a court should terminate
parental rights only in the most egregious of circumstances."
Ex parte Beasley, 564 So. 2d 950, 952 (Ala. 1990). In
addition, "the court must inquire as to whether all viable
alternatives to a termination of parental rights have been
considered." Id. I would grant the writ of certiorari to
determine 1) whether the "most egregious of circumstances"
standard as outlined above was met when A.P.'s parental rights
were terminated, and 2) whether DHR properly excluded the
three willing paternal relatives from taking custody of the
children.
2