In re Robert S. et al., 2009 ME 18

Summary

The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine vacated a judgment terminating a mother's parental rights based on abandonment at a non-evidentiary docket call. The court held that due process and Maine's termination-of-parental-rights statute require an evidentiary hearing and clear-and-convincing evidence before parental rights may be terminated. The case was remanded for an evidentiary hearing on the State's termination petition.

Holdings

1. A court may not terminate parental rights, absent the parent's consent, without first conducting an evidentiary hearing and making the required parental-unfitness and best-interests findings by clear and convincing evidence.
2. A parent's failure to appear may be relevant to abandonment, but a court may find abandonment only after an evidentiary hearing developing a record that establishes abandonment by clear and convincing evidence; failure to appear alone does not support an immediate termination order.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the District Court violated the mother's due-process rights and the Maine termination-of-parental-rights statute by terminating her parental rights at a non-evidentiary docket call without an evidentiary hearing.
2. Whether the mother's failure to appear at the docket call constituted abandonment under 22 M.R.S. § 4055(1)(B)(2)(b)(iii).
3. Whether the District Court abused its discretion in denying the mother's motion for relief from judgment.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded