Court Opinion

ID: 9884716
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 03:09:30.155736+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:40:55.000868
License: Public Domain

NIERENGARTEN, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. In their petition requesting termination of parental rights, the Miles cite a number of incidents which illustrate D.C.M.’s behavioral problems, but it is clear that the primary reason the Miles seek termination is because they feel an emotional strain and not because they seek to better D.C.M.’s position. Social workers and therapists indicated that D.C.M. was a child with many problems and that these problems were taking a toll on the Miles emotionally and on their family relationships. D.C.M. refers to the Miles as his parents but has stated that “if they don’t want me, I don’t want them,” thereby indicating a reaction to the rejection conduct of the Miles. The Miles also state that D.C.M. would be eligible for financial assistance if parental rights were terminated, apparently feeling such assistance would be to his advantage.
I can well sympathize with the respondent parents. They exhibited exemplary virtues of concern and compassion when they adopted D.C.M., knowing he had emotional and behavioral problems.
However, this is a judicial proceeding. We are not a social service agency. The statute requires that the best interests of the child be paramount in any proceeding to terminate parental rights. Minn.Stat. § 260.221, subd. 4. The emphasis in the petition and the order granting the petition is upon lessening the Miles’ burdens rather than considering what will be best for D.C.M. There is insufficient evidence that termination is in D.C.M.’s best interest.
The last statutory requirement is that the court make specific findings regarding efforts to reunite the family. Minn.Stat. § 260.221, subd. 5. There are no specific findings of attempts to reunite the family in the court’s order granting the petition.
I would reverse.