In re Myra B.

Summary

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a judgment terminating the parents’ parental rights to Myra B. and Nicole B. The court held that competent evidence supported findings of parental unfitness and that termination, with a permanency plan of adoption, was in the children’s best interests.

Holdings

1. The evidence supported at least one statutory ground of parental unfitness because the parents were unable or unwilling to protect the children from jeopardy and unable to take responsibility for them within a time reasonably calculated to meet their needs.
2. The appellate court will not substitute its judgment for the trial court's determinations concerning the weight and credibility of witness testimony when those determinations are supported by the record.
3. The parents did not demonstrate that the Department's reunification efforts were inadequate or that any alleged inadequacy rendered the evidence supporting parental unfitness insufficient.
4. The District Court did not err or abuse its discretion in determining that termination of parental rights, with a permanency plan of adoption, was in each child's best interest.

Questions Presented

1. Whether competent evidence supported the District Court's findings that the parents were unwilling or unable to protect the children from jeopardy and unable to take responsibility for them within a time reasonably calculated to meet their needs.
2. Whether the District Court's determination that termination of parental rights was in the children's best interests was erroneous or an abuse of discretion.
3. Whether inadequate reunification efforts by the Department rendered the evidence supporting parental unfitness insufficient.
4. Whether the District Court improperly assessed the weight and credibility of the evidence.

Disposition

affirmed