Opinion ID: 2582508
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Guardianship Arrangement

Text: C.W. also argues that the superior court erred in terminating his parental rights when the less restrictive alternative of guardianship was available. The guardianship issue was raised during an October 29, 1999 evidentiary hearing on C.W.'s motion for visitation. C.W.'s mother objected to granting custody of J.S. to the maternal grandparents and explained that she would be more than willing to become guardian of [J.S.] until [C.W.] completed his case plan and could be [reunited] with [J.S.]. However, the issue was not properly raised at trial. C.W. offered no evidence regarding a guardianship arrangement at trial. In fact, the issue was not even mentioned until closing arguments, when C.W.'s counsel suggested that guardianship should be considered. Although AS 47.10.110 permits a court to appoint a guardian for a child when it appears to the court that such an appointment would be in the child's best interest, AS 47.10.088 does not require that guardianship be considered in termination proceedings, except to the extent that the statute requires the court to order an arrangement that is in the child's best interest. The superior court implicitly rejected the guardianship proposal when it denied C.W.'s visitation motion and continued custody of J.S. with his maternal grandparents. C.W. points to no evidence indicating that guardianship would have been in the best interest of J.S. or that it would have been in J.S.'s best interest to disrupt the stability and security he had enjoyed living with his maternal grandparents, with whom his therapist indicated that he had formed deep attachments. The superior court did not err in failing to order a guardianship arrangement.