Parental Rights, Deprivation – Georgia Case Law Update

On March 13, 2009, the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the juvenile court’s termination of a father’s parental rights in In the Interest of D.F. (A08A2371). The father challenged the sufficiency of the evidence of his parental misconduct or inability, or that termination of parental rights would be in the children’s best interests. The Court of Appeals disagreed with the father, holding that “[t]he evidence authorized the juvenile court to find that although the father has not engaged in any abuse or intentional misconduct whatsoever toward his children, and although he has made a sincere and food faith effort to obtain reunification with the children by meeting his parental responsibilities, his mental infirmities simply render him incapable of parenting the children without the full-time assistance that is unavailable to him.” The Court, thus, found that terminating the father’s parental rights was in the best interests of the children.