Juvenile court properly terminated parental rights where sufficient evidence supported the conclusion that the minor was adoptable and no evidence supported an exception to adoption. On appeal from parental rights termination, parents argued that the Department’s adoption assessment report was inadequate and that the court should have granted a brief continuance to allow the social worker time to receive updated reports concerning the minor and to further assess his adoptability in that context. The appellate court found that it was error not to have ordered a brief continuance, but that the error was harmless in light of other information supporting the adoptability finding. Further there was sufficient evidence to support the juvenile court’s finding that there were no exceptions to termination of parental rights. Mother’s contention that she had a beneficial parent-child relationship with the minor was frivolous and should not have been raised on appeal. There was overwhelming evidence that mother did not have a beneficial relationship with the minor, but had left him with relatives, did not appear bonded to him, and viewed him as the source of her problems. The court did not err when it found that the minor was adoptable and that no exception to adoption applied.
Case Summaries