Opinion ID: 1995678
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Construction of Section 5-204

Text: [¶ 12] Title 18-A M.R.S. § 5-204(c) does not define the term temporarily intolerable. . . living situation. 18-A M.R.S. § 5-204(c). Our construction of that term is informed, however, by the fundamental liberty interest parents have in parenting their children. See Guardianship of Jeremiah T., 2009 ME 74, ¶ 27, 976 A.2d 955, 962. Because a temporarily intolerable living situation must relate to a parent's inability to care for the child, proof of parental unfitness is a required element to support the establishment of a guardianship over the parent's objection. Id. The statute's requirement of a living situation . . . that is at least temporarily intolerable for the child even though the living situation does not rise to the level of jeopardy required for the final termination of parental rights, 18-A M.R.S. § 5-204(c), thus requires the court to find that the parent's inability to meet the child's needs constitutes an urgent reason that may have a dramatic, and even traumatic, effect upon the child's well-being, Rideout v. Riendeau, 2000 ME 198, ¶ 26, 761 A.2d 291, 301, if the child lives with the parent. [¶ 13] Accordingly, a guardianship may only be ordered pursuant to section 5-204(c) if the court finds that (1) the parent is currently unable to meet the child's needs and that inability will have an effect on the child's well-being that may be dramatic, and even traumatic, if the child lives with the parent, and (2) the proposed guardian will provide a living situation that is in the best interest of the child. This standard is, as indicated in section 5-204(c), less stringent than the standard for finding jeopardy. See 22 M.R.S. § 4002(6) (2009). [3] Although a temporarily intolerable living situation may arise from the physical condition of a parent's residence, it is by no means restricted to that circumstance. Cf. Guardianship of Emma M., 2003 ME 89, ¶ 3, 828 A.2d 776, 777 (The court appropriately examined evidence of the mother's prior abuse to ascertain the child's living situation in the context of determining [the mother's] current ability to care for her daughter.).