In Re Cloey R. et al.

This is a termination of parental rights case, focusing on Cloey R. and Andrea H., the minor children (“Children”) of Leonard H. (“Father”) and Laura R. (“Mother”). The Children were taken into protective custody by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (“DCS”) on July 26, 2012, upon investigation of environmental neglect and the Children’s exposure to controlled substances. On May 16, 2013, DCS filed a petition to terminate the parental rights of Father and Mother. Following a bench trial conducted on November 7, 2013, the trial court granted the petition upon its finding, by clear and convincing evidence, that (1) both parents failed to substantially comply with the reasonable responsibilities and requirements set forth in the permanency plan, (2) Father failed to legitimate Cloey R., and (3) Mother abandoned the Children by willfully failing to visit them for at least four months preceding the filing of the termination petition. The court further found, by clear and convincing evidence, that termination of both Father’s and Mother’s parental rights was in the Children’s best interest. Father has appealed. Upon careful review 1 of the record, we reverse the trial court’s termination of Father’s parental rights for two reasons: (1) no permanency plan was admitted into evidence upon which the trial court’s finding that Father failed to substantially comply with the plan could be based and (2) Father’s standing as a putative biological father precluded the application of the statutory ground of failure to legitimate a child.