Opinion ID: 1922309
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The FatherT.F.

Text: Because the father was only minimally involved in the lives of his children, and because he failed to appear for the hearing, the government's evidence necessarily focused on the mother and her ability to provide a stable and permanent home for the children. Significantly, the trial court apparently did not Consider the father to be actively contesting the termination of his parental rights primarily because he failed to appear for the hearing. [3] Given the trial court's determination that the children's best interest would be served by their integration into a stable and permanent home and given the substantial evidence in the record to support the court's finding that T.F. is unable to provide such stability, we are unable to say that the trial court's order terminating T.F.'s parental rights was unsupported by clear and convincing evidence in the record. Id. The record with respect to T.F. reveals that he was not a particularly active nor involved parent. In fact, it would be generous to describe him as a non-custodial parent since the term parent connotes some meaningful involvement in a child's life, and the sad facts of this case begin with his three children living in a shelter, often without proper adult supervision, and at times without sufficient food. Even after DHS caused T.F. to become involved in the lives of his children, he was never able to secure fulltime employment and financially support the children or provide a stable and permanent home for them. In addition, there was testimony that for significant periods of time, he either failed to visit the children or failed to visit them consistently. Finally, the only evidence in the record that T.F. was emotionally connected to any of the children was testimony that Tw.P. was disappointed if either parent missed a scheduled visit. Although there was some evidence introduced that T.F. made an effort to care for his children after DHS initially contacted him, that effort as well as other subsequent expressions of interest ended with T.F. ultimately being unable to provide a stable home or consistent emotional support for his children. For example, in September of 1991 when the children were first brought into the neglect system, he originally agreed to care for the children. However, he soon thereafter returned the children to DHS because his living situation would not accommodate them, and he would not agree to stay with the children in a shelter. In 1993, T.F. again offered to take custody of the children. At that time he was living with his then girlfriend, A.J., in a two bedroom apartment. However, because A.J.'s three children were also living in the two bedroom apartment, DHS believed that it would be an inappropriate placement for T.F.'s three children, especially given their special needs. On yet another occasion, T.F. suggested that he could care for K.P., that Tw.P could be placed with his mother, and that T.P. could be placed with his maternal aunt. Although the record does indicate that his mother may have reluctantly agreed to provide such care, if necessary, the record is silent as to whether T.F.'s maternal aunt agreed to care for any of the children. Regardless, because neither of the proposed caretakers came forward, DHS officials evidently did not consider those placements viable. More importantly, the record is silent regarding T.F.'s efforts to follow up on his suggestion that DHS place K.P. with him. What we do know from the record is that K.P. was not placed in his father's care at or around that time. According to DHS, during the seven years that the children were in the neglect system, T.F. was given several housing referrals and offered other assistance but he was never successful in putting himself in a position to care for the children. In addition to testimony regarding his inability to secure stable employment and adequate housing to care for the children, T.F.'s occasional visits with the children, although viewed for the most part as positive, were generally described as more of a visit between friends than a visit between a parent and his or her child. [4]