In re Evalina H.

Summary

The Tennessee Court of Appeals considered a petition to terminate a biological father's parental rights based on abandonment by failure to visit and failure to support. The court affirmed the finding that the failure to visit was not willful, reversed the finding concerning abandonment by failure to support, affirmed the determination that termination would be in the child's best interest, and remanded the case.

Holdings

1. Father proved by a preponderance of the evidence that his failure to visit during the relevant four-month period was not willful. Mother’s sustained interference with communication and visitation, together with Father’s parole restrictions and credited explanation concerning the cost of pursuing legal relief, prevented the failure to visit from constituting willful abandonment.
2. The 2017 order reserved, rather than waived, Father’s child-support obligation. Father’s provision of employer-sponsored health insurance was only token support given his means, and Petitioners proved the ground of abandonment by failure to support.
3. Clear and convincing evidence established that termination of Father’s parental rights was in the child’s best interest.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Father’s failure to visit during the statutory four-month period was willful or was excused by Mother’s interference, parole restrictions, and financial inability to obtain court-ordered visitation.
2. Whether Father’s provision of employer-sponsored health insurance satisfied his statutory obligation to provide more than token support when the prior order reserved calculation of child support.
3. Whether clear and convincing evidence established that termination of Father’s parental rights was in the child’s best interest.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded