Opinion ID: 2275396
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Dependency Termination Continuum

Text: When the State files a petition to terminate parental rights, it is the end stage in a continuum that usually begins with a dependency and neglect proceeding. After a dependency and neglect proceeding is commenced, if the Family Court finds that a child is dependent, custody is transferred to the State and that child is placed in foster care. The State is then obligated to reunite the family, if possible. If the efforts at reuniting the parent and child are unsuccessful, the State files a petition to terminate parental rights. When a termination proceeding is commenced, the factual basis for terminating parental rights is found in the conduct that occurred from the time that child was placed in foster care until the State concluded that the efforts at reunification had failed. If an attorney is only appointed to represent an indigent parent after the petition to terminate has been files then the outcome is almost inevitable, assuming the factual allegations in the petition to terminate can be established with credible evidence. Accordingly, more than two decades ago, the United States Supreme Court noted that informed opinion has clearly come to hold that an indigent parent is entitled to the assistance of counsel not only in parental termination proceedings, but also in dependency and neglect proceedings as well.  [7]