Court Opinion

ID: 9635548
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:53:58.780896+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:29.625591
License: Public Domain

MANDERINO, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent. Implicit in the majority’s reasoning is the conclusion that alcoholism is a moral fault or legal fault rather than a disease. I cannot accept this premise. During *630the ten-month period when appellant did not have her children she was suffering from a disease and, indeed, sought help and was cured. Under these circumstances there was no basis to find that appellant had abandoned her children.
The majority holds that the appellant’s “health, financial and emotional problems” are not justification for failure to perform parental duties. I cannot agree. Suppose the appellant had cancer, or had suffered an accident requiring prolonged hospitalization. Under the majority’s reasoning, that parent’s parental rights could be terminated for failure to perform parental duties. I am compelled to dissent.