Court Opinion

ID: 9819378
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 06:24:05.701199+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:10:10.474152
License: Public Domain

PRESIDING JUSTICE COOK, specially concurring: I concur in the reversal of the order terminating parental rights, but I question our criticism of DCFS, the State’s Attorney, and the trial court. The opinion indicates that these two teenagers are troubled and that DCFS had no adoptive prospects for them. 315 Ill. App. 3d at 947. That fact, alone, seems to be “a satisfactory explanation for the State’s seven-year delay in seeking termination of respondent’s parental rights.” 315 Ill. App. 3d at 947. Termination of parental rights is often a useless effort if no permanent placement is available. The parties have not been given an opportunity to respond to the issues raised by the majority. There is much we do not know about this case. We should limit ourselves to deciding this appeal and avoid sweeping pronouncements that we base on assumptions gleaned from facts not before us.