Court Opinion

ID: 5156114
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-01-02 02:20:31.75105+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:25:21.080055
License: Public Domain

Justice MARTINEZ,
dissenting.
The majority's holding, that in creating a guardianship through consent parents do not relinquish their right under Troxel to the presumption that they are acting in the best interests of their child when they move to terminate a guardianship, conceals a more accurate holding: that Colorado's unlimited-guardianship statute is a constitutional violation of the substantive due-process right in Troxel, requiring the statute to be rewritten to prevent parents from too easily suspending a future right to a presumption that their *788desire to terminate the guardianship is in the best interests of their child.
As Colorado's unlimited-guardianship statute is written, all parental rights relating to the ward's support, care, education, health, and welfare-which would include the right to any presumption upon moving to terminate the guardianship-are suspended in an unlimited guardianship, unless parents have specifically retained rights by forming a limited guardianship. But under the majority's revision, even when forming an unlimited guardianship, parents now retain the right to a presumption that, upon moving to terminate the guardianship, they act in the best interests of their child, unless they specificalTy disclaim that right.
The majority's justification for rewriting Colorado's unlimited-guardianship statute rests entirely on the propriety of expanding the right in Troxel to the cireumstances of this case, which the majority is only able to do by misapprehending what, under Troxel, constitutes a "fit" parent entitled to presumptive rights. Fit parents are not, contrary to the majority's narrow view, merely those who have never been adjudicated "unfit." Under Troxel, fit parents are custodial parents, with intact parental rights, actively raising their children. Hence, the parents in this case, their legal rights suspended by an unlimited guardianship, possessing neither custody nor control of their child, and not having been actively raising their son for close to a decade, are not fit parents entitled to a Troxel right.
Before analyzing how the majority has improperly expanded Trowel, I focus on two preliminary matters: first, I consider the facts of this case, which the majority has presented in a one-sided manner that improperly, and unnecessarily, invokes sympathy for the parents, lending emotional support for an expansion of Troxel. Second, I consider Colorado's carefully-structured guardianship laws, which, though ignored by the majority, give parents ample opportunities to preserve their parental rights.
I. Facts
The majority's presentation of the facts is incomplete and replete with judgments concerning the guardians, which arouse a heightened sympathy for the parents that more easily lends support to an expansion of the right in Troxel. After taking a more balanced look at the facts, however, this heightened sympathy is not warranted, and should not provide a basis for rewriting Colorado's guardianship laws.
The majority glosses over the primary reason why the parents established the guardianship: because of mother's serious mental-health problems, they were not fit to take care of their son. At the guardianship-appointment hearing, father testified that although his wife loved her son, she "can't take care of him." Father also testified that between trying to raise his son, hold down a full-time job, and take care of his wife and manage her illness, "it just became too much for" him. This situation gave rise to the need for the guardianship. As one of the guardians testified, "prior to coming out here, [D.LS.] was in an environment where he was basically cyeling between two sets of grandparents, and occasionally seeing [his father]. It wasn't a situation that provided a constant kind of environment that I think a young child like that needs for bonding." Because of mental-health issues, the parents were not adequately caring for their child, creating the need for guardianship.
The majority accuses the trial court of misleading the parents by telling father that if they withdrew their consent to the guard-fanship, "physical guardianship will cease to exist." Maj. op. at 786. Whatever the trial court may have meant by "physical guardianship," this exchange must be read in the context of the entire hearing. Multiple times, the trial court explained to father that if his or his wife's situation changed and they wanted to review, change, or terminate the guardianship, they would only have an "opportunity" for the court to review their request and make a decision. The attorney representing the guardians informed the trial court that he spoke to father "and explained to him that the older the child gets the harder it is to ever reunify." And at the guardian-appointment hearing, one of the guardians testified that "the real intent [of the parties in bringing DLS. to Colorado] *789was to have him here on an indefinite basis," and that a guardianship would foster greater stability in D.L.S.'s life.1
The majority accuses the guardians of refusing to travel to Massachusetts with D.LS., not allowing D.LS. to spend the night with his parents, and frustrating the parents' efforts to spend time with their son, all of which suggest that the guardians systematically deprived the parents of bonding time with their child. Maj. op. at 778. To the contrary, the trial court found that there was "insufficient evidence of a pattern of alienation against the biological parents by the guardians." Further, the record shows that the guardians have never foreclosed the possibility of reunifying D.LS. with his parents. The guardians requested a parenting coordinator to arrange visits and solve disputes, and wanted D.1.S. to "develop a deeper relationship with [his parents]."
And finally, the majority downplays the deep bonds that formed between D.LS. and his guardians, as well as the non-existence of those bonds between D.L.S. and his parents. The guardians became D.LS.'s substitute parents, fully integrating him into their lives, making every major and most day-to-day decisions for him for the last decade. As one guardian testified at the guardianship-termination hearing, when they first brought D.I.S. into their home, she had to "let go of other things in my life so I could concentrate" on making sure that "all of D.LS.'s needs [were] met by primarily a single caregiver." According to the child and family investigator (CFI) report, DIS. came to view his relationships with his guardians "as the rock and foundation of his world."
In contrast, the trial court found that the "[bliological parents have not been consistently child-centered." "The interrelationship between the minor child and biological mother, in terms of a parent/child relationship, is virtually non-existent." The trial court approvingly cited the CFI report, which said that "in terms of the relational qualities, [D.L.S.] perceives much more [the guardians] as his parental figures."
The state of these relationships only confirms the strong likelihood that in opposing the motion to terminate the guardianship, the guardians were acting pursuant to their statutory mandate to "act at all times in the ward's best interest." § 15-14-207(1), C.R.S. (2010). As one of the guardians testified, "I would not be comfortable with a transition until the point at which [D.LS.] felt that [his biological parents] were also his psychological parents." The trial court, and the CFI, both agreed.
II. The Unlimited Guardianship
In a paragraph loosely describing the rights and obligations of guardians, the majority buries the primary vehicle by which parents are free to safeguard their rights under Colorado's guardianship laws: the limited guardianship. $ 15-14-206(2); maj. op. at 780. The majority never calls the limited guardianship by its proper, statutory name. Nor does the majority use the proper, statutory name to describe the main alternative to a limited guardianship: the unlimited guardianship. But that is what the statutory scheme, Colorado's adoption of the 1997 Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act,2 properly calls them.3
*790The terminology is important because it focuses attention on the differing rights and obligations parents and guardians have depending on the guardianship arrangement formed. Under Colorado law, an unlimited guardianship, as its name suggests, grants guardians the full range of powers and responsibilities available through statute, which, considerably, encompass all matters "regarding the ward's support, care, education, health, and welfare." §§ 15-14-207 to -208. In an unlimited guardianship, except for those rights and obligations spelled out by statute, parents retain no authority over their children; all parental rights regarding the ward's support, care, education, health, and welfare are suspended.4 That is why Colorado's guardianship law is designed so that an unlimited guardianship is the option of last resort, with many other guardian or guardianship-like arrangements available to parents, the principal option being the limited guardianship.5 And the reason the majority hesitates, and declines, to call the unlimited guardianship by its proper name is because terminating a guardianship most certainly falls within the ambit of the ward's support, care, education, health, and welfare; hence, suspended by an unlimited guardianship is the presumption that, upon moving to terminate the guardianship, the parents are acting in the best interests of the child.
But under Colorado law, parents are never forced to choose between an unlimited guardianship or no guardianship at all; they are free to form limited guardianships. Under section 15-14-206(2), "the court may limit the powers of a guardian" otherwise granted by Colorado's guardianship law, "and thereby create a limited guardianship." The power to create limited guardianships is extremely flexible, as the limitation must only be "[iJn the best interest of developing self-reliance of a ward or for other good cause." Id. If a limited guardianship is formed, then those limitations should be specifically enumerated by the trial court in its written order, and those limitations must be endorsed on the guardian's letters. § 15-14-110(8) But when parents do not limit a guardian's power, their rights are suspended and not retained.
Thus, as written, Colorado's guardianship law takes into account the vast array of cireumstances that may call for a guardianship, and gives parents and guardians tremendous flexibility in crafting the guardianship that suits their particular situations. If the parents in this case had wanted to keep a thumb on the scale when terminating the guardianship, they could readily have done so by creating a limited guardianship where they reserved the presumption that, upon moving to terminate the guardianship, they *791act in the best interests of their child. They did not do so.
III. Expansion of Troxel
The majority's motivation for rewriting Colorado's guardianship law lies in its determination that the parents here have a constitutional right that, upon moving to terminate the unlimited guardianship, they are entitled to a presumption that they are acting in the best interests of their child. The Supreme Court has recognized that when fit, custodial parents disagree with grandparents over a visitation dispute, the parents are entitled to a presumption that their visitation decision is in the best interests of the child. Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 68-69, 120 S.Ct. 2054, 147 L.Ed.2d 49 (2000). Further, we have applied Troxel by recognizing that fit, custodial parents are entitled to a presumption that they act in the best interests of their child when they make visitation decisions conflicting with the wishes of non-parents. In re B.J., 242 P.3d 1128, 1134 (Colo.2010). But we have never expanded the rights recognized in Troxel and B.J. beyond their moorings in fit, custodial parents with intact parental rights.
The majority's claim that the parents in this case were fit when they established the guardianship, and will be fit when they move to terminate it, can only be made by misreading Troxel, conceiving Troxel's parental-fitness requirement narrowly, disassociating it from custody and intact parental rights. The majority views a Troxel fitness determination as simply a question of whether there has been an adjudication finding parents "unfit." See maj. op. at 786.
But the plurality in Troxel does not conceive of parental fitness so narrowly. Broadly, the Troxel plurality equates parental fitness with a parent "adequately car[ing] for his or her children." 530 U.S. at 68, 120 S.Ct. 2054. This equation presumes some level of parental custody and control. Further, in "elaborat{ing] with care" the substantive due-process right in Troxel, id. at 73, 120 S.Ct. 2054, the plurality relied on cases that only recognized "the due process right of parents to make critical decisions about the upbringing of their children," McCurdy v. Dodd, 352 F.3d 820, 826-27 (8d Cir.2003).6 Hence, critically, the parent's presumptive right in Troxel was part and parcel of that parent's right, as a fit, custodial parent, with fully intact legal rights, "to make decisions concerning the rearing of her two daughters." 530 U.S. at 70, 120 S.Ct. 2054. So, although a parent whose rights have been terminated would no longer be "adequately caring for his or her children," so too might parents who no longer have intact legal custody and control of their children.
Supreme Court precedent confirms that parental fitness under Troxel must not be divorced from some degree of legal and physical custody. The Court "has noted that the rights of the parents are a counterpart of the responsibilities they have assumed," and that a parent's liberty interests "'do not spring full-blown from the biological connection between parent and child. They require relationships more enduring." Lehr v. Robertson, 463 U.S. 248, 257, 260, 103 S.Ct. 2985, 77 L.Ed.2d 614 (1983) (quoting Caban v. Mohammed, 441 U.S. 380, 397, 99 S.Ct. 1760, 60 L.Ed.2d 297 (1979)). Further, it is those "who nurture [a child) and direct [his or her] destiny [whol have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare [him or her] for additional obligations." Pierce, 268 U.S. 510, 535, 45 S.Ct. 571 (1925), quoted in Troxel, 530 U.S. at 79, 120 S.Ct. 2054 (Souter, J., concurring in the judgment); see also Smith v. Org. of Foster Families for Equality & Reform, 431 U.S. 816, 844, 97 S.Ct. 2094, 53 L.Ed.2d 14 (deseribing that the importance of family relationships springs not only from relation by blood, but from "the emotional attachments that derive from the intimacy of daily association"). In short, it is legal custody and control that *792gives parental wishes presumptive effect under Troxel.
Granted, the Court has not "set out exact metes and bounds to the protected interest of a parent in the relationship with his child," Troxel, 530 U.S. at 78, 120 S.Ct. 2054 (Souter, J., concurring), which includes the exact contours of parental fitness under Troxel.7 But so long as parental fitness involves some level of custody, control, and intact legal rights, the parents in this case do not qualify as fit under Troxel.
The majority assumes that, under Troxel, the parents were fit when they consented to the guardianship. To the contrary, the facts show that they were not, in Troxel's words, "adequately caring" for their son. The majority also assumes that, absent an adjudication of unfitness, the parents are fit for purposes of Troxel when they move to terminate the guardianship.
To the contrary, even assuming that the parents were fit when they created the guardianship, when moving to terminate the guardianship, the parents are in an entirely different place under the Constitution as far as fitness is concerned. By consenting to an unlimited guardianship, the parents have relinquished their liberty interest in the care, custody and control of their child. For the last decade, D.LS.'s parents have not had physical custody of their son. For most of that time, their legal rights over their son have not been intact. In fact, every right relating to their son's "support, care, education, health, and welfare" has been suspended. They have not been active in bringing up their son; since the guardianship was formed, they have made no major and few, if any, day-to-day rearing decisions. Hence, based on a parental-fitness requirement connected to physical custody and intact legal rights, the parents are not entitled to any presumption that, upon moving to terminate the guardianship, they are acting in the best interests of their child.
In expanding Troxel to situations where the parents have no legal custody, control, or intact legal rights, the majority has thrown Colorado's guardianship law into confusion. Before today, when parents and guardians consented to an unlimited guardianship, statute clearly specified their rights and obligations. But now, by only stating that parents "may not interfere with the guardian's day-to-day decision making," maj. op. at 779, and by recognizing that, despite the existence of an unlimited guardianship, parents do not lose their fundamental liberty interest in the care, custody, and control of their children, maj. op at 781, the majority has opened the door to a host of major, child-rearing decisions unlimited guardians may no longer have the authority to make if challenged by parents We do not know, for example, whether, despite consenting to an unlimited guardianship, parents retain a constitutional right to determine weighty matters like religious upbringing and significant health or educational choices.
Yet another aspect of Troxel that counsels against its expansion is that its holding was based on a "combination of factors," one of which was a "breathtakingly broad" statute that gave fit, custodial parents no deference over visitation matters. 530 U.S. at 67, 72, 120 S.Ct. 2054. In contrast, the statutes regulating Colorado's guardianship law are not overly broad; indeed, the statutory scheme gives parents unparalleled opportunities to preserve their rights through limited guardianships. And even where parents elect not to limit guardians' powers at the time of the guardianship, they retain significant residual powers.8
*793The cases that the majority cites in support of its expansion of Troxel are unpersuasive. The Colorado cases that the majority relies on for expanding Troxel, In re Custody of C.C.R.S., 892 P.2d 246 (Colo.1995), and Wilson v. Mitchell, 48 Colo. 454, 111 P. 21 (1910), are inapposite. In both cases, the parents had never lost legal custody of their children, even if they did not always have physical custody. C.C.R.S., 892 P.2d at 255; Wilson, 48 Colo. at 475, 111 P. at 28-29. In sharp contrast, both parents here suspended their rights pursuant to a statutory scheme. Further, CCRS. does not stand for the broad proposition that when parents do not have custody of their children, courts must presume that parents' attempts to regain custody are in the best interests of their child. See maj. op. at 782. Rather, CCR.S. only recognized that a parent is entitled to a presumption that her effort to regain custody is in the best interests of the child where the parent and prospective adoptive parents entered into an unenforceable custody agreement the parent revoked six months after her child's birth-when the child was still an infant-and where the prospective adoptive parents sought full legal and physical custody of the child. 892 P.2d at 249 n. 5, 250, 255. The unique cireumstances in C.C.R.S. do not apply here.
The majority also supports expanding Troxel by claiming that a majority of jurisdictions have done so. But it is far from clear that, among a majority of jurisdictions, parents are always entitled, as a matter of right, to a presumption that their motions to terminate guardianships are in the best interests of their children.
For example, the majority incorrectly relies on Hunter v. Hunter, 484 Mich. 247, 771 N.W.2d 694 (2009) to support the proposition that "the Troxel presumption must prevail over any competing presumption in favor of an established custodial environment," including guardianships. Maj. op. at 784. In Hunter, two statutes irreconcilably conflicted over the correct burden of proof in awarding custody in a dispute between a natural parent and a non-parent in an established custodial setting. 771 N.W.2d at 702-03. The court in Hunter used Troxel to decide that the statute that gave some deference to a parent controlled. Id. at 705, 710. In its analysis, the Hunter court specially acknowledged that Troxel only required a presumption in favor of fit custodial parents. Id. at 707. Further, the court found itself in accord with "many courts [that] have distinguished Troxel because it 'was concerned with judicial interference in the day-to-day child-rearing decisions of fit, custodial parents.... It did not address situations in which the parent no longer has custody.' " Id. at 707 n. 39 (quoting In re MJK, 200 P.3d 1106, 1109 (Colo.App.2008)).
The majority also cites Boisvert v. Harrington, 173 Vt. 285, 796 A.2d 1102, 1108 (2002), in support of its position. Maj. op. at 784. But Boisvert's holding only applies to minor guardianships created through section 2645 of the Vermont Statutes Annotated, title 14 (2010); Vermont also allows parents to consent to the creation of a permanent guardianship, under which parents do not possess a constitutional presumption upon a motion to terminate. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, §§ 2661, 2664, 2666 (2010). Similarly, the majority's citation to In re Guardianship of Blair, 662 N.W.2d 371, 2003 WL 182981, at *5 (Iowa Ct.App.2003) (unpublished decision), is unpersuasive, because in Towa, the legislature has expressed a preference that "the parents of a minor child, or either of them, if qualified and suitable, shall be preferred over all others for appointment as guardian." Towa Code § 638.559 (2010); see also In re Guardianship of Hedin, 528 N.W.2d 567, 581 (Iowa 1995) (extending legislative preference to termination proceedings). Our legislature has expressed no such preference.
In addition, the majority has appeared to consider only two of those states holding that where parents voluntarily relinquish custody *794of their children to a non-parent to some degree or another, they may lose any right to a presumption that they act in the best interests of their children when they reassert custody rights. See In re Nelson B., 225 W.Va. 680, 695 S.E.2d 910, 915 (2010); Blair v. Badenhope, T7 S.W.3d 137, 147 (Tenn.2002); Grant v. Martin, 757 So.2d 264, 266 (Miss.2000); Price v. Howard, 346 N.C. 68, 484 S.E.2d 528, 534 (1997); Shifflet v. Shifflet, 891 S.W.2d 392, 394 (Ky.1995); Ex parte McLendon, 455 So.2d 863, 865 (Ala.1984); In re Perales, 52 Ohio St.2d 89, 369 N.E.2d 1047, 1052 (1977). These cases are generally applicable to guardianship proceedings because guardians are most often entitled to custody of their wards. Clark v. Kendrick, 670 P.2d 32, 34 (Colo.App.1983).
But even if the majority were correct in its assessment of the dominant view among jurisdictions, Colorado's guardianship law allays several of the concerns motivating courts that have expanded the right. For instance, two of the cases cited by the majority express a concern that failure to recognize a parental presumption will discourage parents from entering into guardianships. In re Guardianship of Barros, 701 N.W.2d 402, 407 (N.D.2005); In re Guardianship of D.J., 268 Neb. 239, 682 N.W.2d 238, 246 (2004). But in Colorado, parents will not be dissuaded from entering into guardianships generally, as they are free to propose limited guardianships.
In another one of the cases the majority cites, the court describes a guardianship as "no more than a temporary custody arrangement established for the well-being of a child." D.J., 682 N.W.2d at 248. But this description does not square with Colorado's view of the unlimited guardianship. Finally, none of the cases cited by the majority contemplate the effect-constitutional or otherwise-of a limited-guardianship option, which serves as vehicle for preserving parental authority.
Thus, by extending the right in Troxel to parents who do not have legal or physical custody of their child, the majority has ignored Trozel's underpinnings and has significantly expanded a constitutional right.
IV. Conclusion
Based on a one-sided view of the circumstances of this case, a failure to recognize how Colorado law adequately protects parents' rights, and a misreading of parental fitness under Troxel, the majority has needlessly rewritten Colorado's guardianship laws and cast great uncertainty about what rights and powers guardians actually have in an unlimited guardianship. By disassociating parental fitness from custody and intact legal rights, the majority has greatly expanded a substantive due-process right, failing to ree-ognize that fitness is not just a matter of whether a parent has been adjudicated "unfit." Under Troxel, fit parents are actively making child-rearing decisions in a custodial context where they have the right to do so. But the parents here are far from fit. They have neither custody nor control of their child, all their rights relating to their son's "support, care, education, health, and welfare" have been suspended, and they have not been actively raising their son for close to a decade. Under such cireumstances, Troxel should not apply. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
I am authorized to state that Chief Justice BENDER and Justice COATS join in this dissent.

. Facts aside, the allegation that parents intended to create a less permanent guardianship than they did has not been raised before us and should not provide incentive to change Colorado's guardianship law. The magistrate's order establishing the unlimited guardianship found that the parents voluntarily and knowingly consented to such an arrangement. The validity of this order, like any other judgment, was subject to appeal under C.A.R.(a)(1), see also C.R.M. 6(e)(2)(A), 7; or post judgment attack under C.R.C.P. 60(b). But it has never been appealed or otherwise challenged. Thus, the decree awarding unlimited guardianship completely determines the rights of the parties on the sufficiency of the consent to the unlimited guardianship. See State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Brekke, 105 P.3d 177, 185 (Colo.2004) (defining final judgment). Hence, the proper consideration of this case commences and proceeds based on the fact that the parents knowingly and voluntarily consented to an unlimited guardianship.

. In construing this uniform act, I find the 1997 Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act's drafting committee's comments persuasive. See In re Estate of Royal, 826 P.2d 1236, 1238 (Colo.1992) (turning to commissioners' comments to understand Colorado's enact ment of the Uniform Probate Code); see also 3A Sutherland Statutory Construction, Guardian*790ship Statutes § 69:14 (7th ed.) ("A Law Revision Commission's official comments express legislative intent ...").

. See, eg., § 15-14-204(4) (stating that a temporary guardian, unless otherwise ordered by the court, "has the authority of an unlimited guardian"); Unif, Guardianship & Protective Proceedings Act (1997) § 202, 8A ULA 301, 333 cmt. (2003) (stating that in reviewing a petition for confirmation of appointment of a standby guardian, the court must assess "the powers to be given the guardian," and "if an unlimited guardianship'" is formed, "why a limited guardianship would not work"); Id. at 341 emt. (referring to the duties and responsibilities of a guardian, regardless of "whether the guardianship of the minor ward is limited or unlimited, it is essential that the minor be involved in decision making").

. See In re Guardianship of Ann S., 45 Cal.4th 1110, 90 Cal.Rptr.3d 701, 202 P.3d 1089, 1098 (2009) (recognizing that once a court appoints a guardian, the authority of the parent "ceases" and parental rights are completely suspended); Conservatorship of Justin R., 662 A.2d 232, 234 (Me.1995) (recognizing that probate court may appoint a guardian for a minor if all "parental rights of custody have been terminated or suspended"); In re Guardianship of Copenhaver, 124 Idaho 888, 865 P.2d 979, 983 (1993) (observing that whether a guardianship should exist depends, in part, on if "parental rights have been suspended by circumstances"); see also 39 Am. Jur.2d Guardian & Ward § 90 (stating that the "termination or suspension of parental rights are conditions that must be satisfied before the court may appoint a guardian for a minor").

. See Unif. Guardianship & Protective Proceedings Act (1997) § 206, 8A ULA 301, 339-40 cmt. (2003) (stating that "[a] court, whenever possible, should only grant to the guardian those powers actually needed"); Id. at 302, prefatory note (observing that "guardianship ... should be view[ed] as a last resort, that limited guardian-ships ... should be used whenever possible").

. The cases relied on are Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 399, 401, 43 S.Ct. 625, 67 L.Ed. 1042 (1923) (right for a parent to establish a home and bring up children, including controlling their education); Pierce v. Soc'y of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus & Mary, 268 U.S. 510, 534-35, 45 S.Ct 571, 69 L.Ed. 1070 (1925) (right for a parent to direct the education and upbringing of children); and Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 166, 64 S.Ct. 438, 88 L.Ed. 645 (1944) (right for a parent to the "custody, care, and nurture of the child").

. The Supreme Court has neither "explained nor defined" the differences between a "fit" and an "unfit" parent. Daniel R. Victor & Keri L. Mid-dleditch, Grandparent Visitation: A Survey of History, Jurisprudence, and Legislative Trends Across the United States in the Past Decade, 22 J. Am. Acad. Matrim. Law. 391, 392, 409 (2009) (describing the difficulty of defining an "unfit parent" in child custody cases). Further, as the Seventh Circuit has acknowledged, "(allthough it is well established that parents have a fundamental constitutional liberty interest in the 'care, custody, and control of their children,' the appropriate framework for analyzing claims alleging a violation of this interest is less than clear." Russ v. Watts, 414 F.3d 783, 789 (7th Cir.2005) (quotation omitted).

. When a parent consents to an unlimited guardianship, that parent: (1) remains an interested person for purposes of petitioning the court "for any order that is in the best interest of the ward," *793including termination of the guardianship under section 15-14-210 and an appointment of a guardian ad litem under section 15-14-115; (2) may receive reports of the condition of the ward pursuant to section 15-14-207; and (3) may request notice before any order is made in the guardianship proceeding under section 15-14-116. Partly because of these residual powers, even though the trial court denied the motion to terminate the guardianship in this case, it still granted parents substantial visitation rights.