terminating a mothers rights

[julieh]

I am a stepmom attempting to adopt my stepson. The biological mother is contesting it. My husband has had exclusive custody for 2 years and she is only allowed supervised visits. What guidelines does Tennessee use in terminating a mothers rights? Does anyone know in detail the types of things the court looks for in determining a mother unfit?

She has been convicted of child neglect and fails drug testing which violates her probation. She refuses counseling and has not paid any child support. The only thing she does do is come to half of the supervised visits because her father makes her go.

 

[MySonsMom]

Proceed with the adoption. If she shows up to contest the adoption be prepared. Have all of your evidence etc...against her and plead your case. It will be up to the judge to decide if it is enough to terminate her rights for the adoption.

Who knows, she may be squauking about it now but decide not to show up at the hearing.

My only suggestion is to gather all of your evidence/proof of her "parenting" and hope for the best.

Good luck!

 

[julieh]

Thank you for the advice. The petition for adoption was filed in November, and we anticipate an April or May court date. We just hope the courts will see that this woman has no desire to rehabilitate herself. She has 2 other kids as well, one lives with her (6 month old), the other with its father (2 yr old). She refuses to work to pay any support for the child and told her probation officer, who is testifying on our behalf, that she could care less, but her mom and dad are making her contest it because they said they would not support her anymore. Her parents are no better than she is.

We also go to court on March 21 for child support. The courts here have a thing about not enforcing child support when the biological mother has to pay. If they calculate it at state minimum plus medical expenses over the past 2 years, she will owe about $5,250 in arrerages.

One of our biggest concerns is will the courts consider 2 years long enough to keep our case in limbo to give her time to try to rehabilitate or give her yet another 6 month review (this will be our 4th "review"). So far, she has only gotten worse and has been in contempt at every review.