Adoptions/Terminations

Many adoptions require the termination of one or both parent’s parental rights. Termination cases are governed by Idaho Code, Title 16, Chapter 20.

There are many reasons why a parent’s rights may be terminated, including:

• Abandonment;
• Neglect or abuse;
• Presumptive parent is not the biological parent;
• A parent is unable to fulfill their parental responsibilities and their inability will continue for a prolonged indeterminate period and will be injurious to the health, morals or well-being of the child; and
• The parent has been incarcerated and is likely to remain incarcerated for a substantial period of time during the child’s minority.

These situations also require the court to determine that termination is in the best interest of the child.

The court may get passed the requirement that the termination is in the best interest of the child if:

• The parent caused the child to be conceived as a result of rape, incest, lewd conduct with a minor child under the age of sixteen (16) years, or sexual abuse of a child under the age of sixteen (16) years; and the following circumstances are also present:
• Abandonment, chronic abuse, or chronic neglect of the child. Chronic neglect or chronic abuse of a child shall consist of abuse or neglect that is so extreme or repetitious as to indicate continuing the relationship would result in unacceptable risk to the health and welfare of the child;
• Sexual abuse against a child of the parent;
• Torture of a child; battery or an injury to a child that results in serious or great bodily injury to a child; voluntary manslaughter of a child, or aiding or abetting such voluntary manslaughter, soliciting such voluntary manslaughter or attempting or conspiring to commit such voluntary manslaughter;
• The parent has committed murder, aided or abetted a murder, solicited a murder or attempted or conspired to commit murder; or
• The court determines the child to be an abandoned infant, except in a parental termination action brought by one (1) parent against another parent.
• Parental rights may also be terminated with the consent of the terminated parent.