Termination of mother’s parental rights to one sibling did not sever his sibling relationship to his brother for purposes of visitation. Mother’s rights to Jose were terminated prior to the birth of Miguel. Miguel was subsequently removed from mother. Following her progress in reunification, Miguel was returned to mother’s custody. Miguel’s attorney filed a 388 petition seeking sibling visitation between Miguel and Jose, who had been adopted. The trial court denied Miguel’s petition because it found there was not a sibling relationship between Jose and Miguel since mother’s rights to Jose had previously been terminated. The appellate court found that an order terminating parental rights has no effect on the relationship between the child and other biological relatives. Miguel and Jose were siblings because they shared a biological parent even though they did not share a legal parent. However, even though the court erred in finding that the minors were not siblings, it lost jurisdiction to order visitation once Jose was adopted.
Case Summaries