Opinion ID: 2395712
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The father's parental rights.

Text: The father next asserts that the trial judge's order interferes with the father's statutory and constitutional rights as T.W.'s parent. We do not agree. The father recognizes that T.W. is in the legal custody of DHS. He argues, however, that his own rights as a parent have not been terminated and remain intact, and that he therefore has the absolute authority to prohibit his son's appearance on Wednesday's Child. It is true, of course, that the judicial decree committing T.W. to the agency's custody did not extinguish all of the father's parental rights. On the contrary, the father retains certain rights as a parent unless and until those rights have been terminated by judicial decree. The father of a child who has been committed to the custody of DHS does not, however, have the right to exercise control over the committed child's daily life. A parent's residual rights and responsibilities are defined in the statute as those rights and responsibilities remaining with the parent after transfer of legal custody or guardianship of the person, including (but not limited to) the right of visitation, consent to adoption, and determination of religious affiliation and the responsibility for support. D.C.Code § 16-2301(22). The trial judge's limited order does not purport to deprive the father of any of the rights or responsibilities enumerated in the statute, or of any other comparable right or responsibility. The father's statutory contention therefore fails. The father's constitutional argument fares no better. At best, it is premature. To the extent that the father's right to raise his son as he sees fit, see generally Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 753, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 71 L.Ed.2d 599 (1982); In re T.J., 666 A.2d 1, 11-12 (D.C.1995), petition for reh'g en banc denied, 675 A.2d 30 (D.C.), cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1028, 116 S.Ct. 2571 (1996), has survived T.W.'s commitment to the custody of DHS, that right is not impaired by the judge's limited order authorizing T.W.'s appearance on Wednesday's Child. Indeed, if T.W. appears on that program, the father will retain the rights that he had prior to his son's appearance. If the program attracts a prospective adoptive family, the father will remain free to contest any proposed adoption. [8] We perceive no plausible basis for challenging the judge's order on constitutional grounds.