In the Interest of M.D.R.

Summary

The Missouri Supreme Court held that the requirement to file a termination-of-parental-rights petition when a child has been in foster care for at least 15 of the previous 22 months is a filing trigger, not an independent statutory ground for terminating parental rights. The court concluded that this interpretation avoided the constitutional due-process issue concerning termination without a finding of parental unfitness. After resolving the jurisdictional issue, the court transferred the appeal to the Missouri Court of Appeals to address the remaining challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence.

Holdings

1. Section 211.447.2(1) is solely a trigger requiring the filing of a termination petition; it is not an independent statutory ground for terminating parental rights.
2. Because section 211.447.2(1) is construed as a filing trigger rather than a ground for termination, the court found no constitutional issue under the Due Process Clauses.
3. The remaining challenges, including the sufficiency of the evidence supporting other statutory grounds for termination, were transferred to the Missouri Court of Appeals.

Questions Presented

1. Whether section 211.447.2(1), which requires filing a termination petition when a child has been in foster care for at least fifteen of the most recent twenty-two months, is itself a statutory ground for terminating parental rights.
2. Whether construing section 211.447.2(1) as a termination ground would violate the Due Process Clauses of the United States and Missouri Constitutions.
3. Whether the mother's remaining challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting termination should be resolved by the Supreme Court or transferred to the Court of Appeals.

Disposition

other