If the petition to terminate parental rights succeeds, the legal relationship between the parent and child ends permanently. Consequently, the parent’s rights and obligations to the child are terminated. All rights of inheritance are extinguished. All duty of support is extinguished. The parent has the same legal status as a stranger to the child, cannot visit or contact the child, and loses...

The person who seeks termination of another’s parental rights must file a petition to the court stating grounds (as set forth in N.C.G.S. §7B-1111 to warrant the drastic legal action. The petition must also establish that termination of parental rights will be in the best interests of the child. In making that determination, the court will consider the child’s age, how likely it is that the...

Usually a petition to terminate parental rights is filed by a parent whose new spouse wishes to adopt the parent’s child from a previous relationship, or by the Department of Social Services (DSS) when a child has been abused or neglected. In the case of DSS, the agency is required by statute to make reunification efforts for the child and the offending parent who is alleged to have abused or...

In North Carolina, grounds for terminating parental rights include: The parent has willingly abandoned the child for more than six months preceding the filing of a petition for Termination of Parental Rights (TPR)Abuse or neglect of the child;Willfully leaving a child or in foster care for more than 12 monthsFailing to pay child support for more than a year in defiance of a court order or other...

A parent has a constitutionally protected civil right to the custody, control and care of his or her children. When a parent abandons those responsibilities, the court may take the permanent and irreversible legal action of terminating that parent’s relationship with his or her children. It is considered to be the most extreme legal action in family law.