Inclusion of Disability as a Condition for Termination of Parental Rights

• NCJ Number: 234012
• Journal: Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 34 Issue: 12 Dated: December 2010 Pages: 927-934
• Author(s): Elizabeth Lightfoot; Katharine Hill; Traci LaLiberte
• Date Published: December 2010
• Length: 8 pages
• Grant Number(s): 90DD0579
• Sponsoring Agency: Admin on Developmental Disabilities
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This study examined whether and how State laws specify parental disability as grounds for terminating parental rights (TPR).

Abstract

The study found that 37 States have included factors related to parental disability as grounds for terminating parental rights, and 14 States with laws stating grounds for TPR do not contain any reference to parental disability. Many of these State laws use outdated terminology, imprecise definitions, and emphasize disability status rather than behavior stemming from the disability that is abusive or neglectful toward the disabled parent's children. The fourteen States that do not include parental disability as grounds for TPR allow for TPR based on neglectful parental behavior that may be influenced by a disability. The authors conclude that the use of disability language in TPR statues can put an undue focus on having a disability, rather than the specific parenting behavior that is abusive or neglectful toward a child. Thus, they recommend that States consider removing disability language from their statutes in favor of statements of specific parenting behaviors that constitute abuse or neglect. It is possible that, in some cases, these behaviors may stem from a disability. The study used legal document analysis that consisted of a comprehensive Boolean search of the laws of the 50 States and District of Columbia relating to TPR, using the most recent State code available on Lexis-Nexis in August 2005. TPR and related laws were searched for contemporary and historical disability-related terms and their common cognates, such as "mental," "disability," "handicap," and "incapacity." Two researchers conducted the searches independently, and the searches were reconciled. A code list was then developed in order to measure for inclusion of disability, preciseness, scope, use of language, and references to accessibility or fairness. Statutes were then reanalyzed and groupings developed. 1 table and 20 references