Grounds for Termination of Parental Rights Hawaii
Circumstances That Are Grounds for Termination
Abandonment or Extreme Parental Disinterest
Abuse/Neglect
Mental Illness or Deficiency
Abuse/Neglect or Loss of Rights of Another Child
Failure to Maintain Contact
Failure to Provide Support
Failure to Establish Paternity
Felony assault of child or sibling
Murder/Manslaughter of sibling child
Circumstances That Are Not Grounds for Termination
Alcohol or Drug Induced Incapacity
Felony Conviction/Incarceration
Failure of Reasonable Efforts
Sexual Abuse
Child Judged in Need of Services/Dependent
Child's Best Interest
Child in care 15 of 22 months (or less)
Haw. Rev. Stat. § 571-61(a), (b)(1), (b)(2) (1998)
Relinquishment
The parents or either parent or the surviving parent who desire to relinquish parental rights to any natural or adopted child and thus make the child available for adoption or re-adoption, may petition the family court of the circuit in which they or he or she resides, or of the circuit in which the child resides, or was born, for the entry of a judgment of termination of parental rights.
The petition shall be verified and shall be substantially in such form as may be prescribed by the judge or senior judge of the family court;
The petition may be filed at any time following the mother's 6th month of pregnancy, provided that no judgment may be entered upon a petition until after the birth of the child; the petitioner or petitioners have filed a written reaffirmation of their desires as expressed in the petition; and the petitioner or petitioners have been given not less than 10 days notice of a proposal for the entry of judgment and an opportunity to be heard in connection with the proposal.
Involuntary termination
The family courts may terminate the parental rights in respect to any child as to any legal parent:
Who has deserted the child without affording means of identification for a period of at least 90 days;
Who has voluntarily surrendered the care and custody of the child to another for a period of at least 2 years;
Who, when the child is in the custody of another, has failed to communicate with the child when able to do so for a period of at least 1 year;
Who, when the child is in the custody of another, has failed to provide for care and support of the child when able to do so for a period of at least 1 year;
Whose child has been removed from the parent's physical custody pursuant to legally authorized judicial action, and who is found to be unable to provide now and in the foreseeable future the care necessary for the well-being of the child;
Who is found by the court to be mentally ill or mentally retarded and incapacitated from giving consent to the adoption of or from providing now and in the foreseeable future the care necessary for the well-being of the child;
Who is found not to be the child's natural or adoptive father.
The family courts may terminate the parental rights, in respect to any minor, of any natural but not legal father who is an adjudicated, presumed, or concerned father or who is named as the father on the child's birth certificate:
Who falls within the provisions listed above;
Whose child is sought to be adopted by the child's stepfather and the stepfather has lived with the child and the child's legal mother for a period of at least 1 year;
Who is only a concerned father who has failed to file a petition for the adoption of the child or whose petition for the adoption of the child has been denied;
Who is found to be an unfit or improper parent or to be financially or otherwise unable to give the child a proper home and education.
