Court Opinion

ID: 9535188
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:46:26.317359+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:11.195237
License: Public Domain

SACKETT, Judge
(dissenting).
I dissent. I would follow the careful recommendation of the guardian ad litem and not terminate this mother’s parental rights.
These children are ten and eight years old. They love their mother and are bonded to her. The majority too easily dismissed the bond and the problems inherent in severing biological ties. Furthermore, the State has done little to preserve the bond while the mother is incarcerated. While the majority finds the children adoptable, I question that finding. I am fearful the children will stay parentless in foster homes or an institution.
I recognize their mother has seriously abused alcohol and illegal substances. There currently is evidence she is making serious affirmative efforts to control her problem. While the children have suffered as a result of her addictions, she is their mother. By terminating their mother’s parental rights, is the majority telling them we do not help those we love who have a problem with substance abuse, but rather we merely cut off the relationship?