In re D.A.H.

Summary

The Tennessee Supreme Court held that a 2003 amendment to Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-1-113(g)(9)(A) could not be applied retroactively to terminate the parental rights of a biological father whose parental rights had vested under the prior statute. Applying the prior statute and Jones v. Garrett, the Court concluded that the additional termination grounds for persons who were not legal parents did not apply because the father established legal parentage before the termination proceeding. The Court also found that the evidence did not support abandonment and vacated the termination order, remanding for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. The 2003 amendment may not be applied retroactively to Cope's case because Tennessee Constitution article I, section 20 prohibits retroactive impairment of his vested, constitutionally protected parental rights.
2. The grounds in Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-1-113(g)(9)(A) do not apply to a person who is a legal parent at the time of the termination proceeding. Because Cope established paternity before that proceeding, those grounds could not support termination of his parental rights.
3. The alleged abandonment ground based on Cope's willful failure to make reasonable payments toward the support of the child's mother was not supported by the evidence.
4. The alleged abandonment ground based on willful failure to visit was not supported by the evidence.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the 2003 amendment to Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-1-113(g)(9)(A) could be applied retroactively to permit termination of Cope's parental rights.
2. Whether the additional termination grounds in section 36-1-113(g)(9)(A) applied to Cope after he established parentage and became a legal parent before the termination proceeding.
3. Whether the evidence supported termination based on alleged abandonment for failure to support the child's mother and failure to visit the child.
4. Whether the Court of Appeals had jurisdiction to consider Cope's challenge to the termination order despite the waiver arguments raised by Mid-South.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded