Grounds for Termination of Parental Rights Maryland

Statute: §§ 5-313; 5-525.1(b)(1)

Circumstances That Are Grounds for Termination

Abandonment or Extreme Parental Disinterest

Abuse/Neglect

Mental Illness or Deficiency

Alcohol or Drug Induced Incapacity

Felony Conviction/Incarceration

Failure of Reasonable Efforts

Abuse/Neglect or Loss of Rights of Another Child

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Sexual Abuse

Failure to Maintain Contact

Failure to Provide Support

Child Judged in Need of Services/Dependent

Child's Best Interest

Child in care 15 of 22 months (or less)

Felony assault of child or sibling

Murder/Manslaughter of sibling child

Circumstances That Are Not Grounds for Termination

Failure to Establish Paternity

Md. Code Ann. Fam. Law § 5-313(a), (b) (West, WESTLAW through 2003 Reg. Sess.)

A court may grant a decree of adoption or a decree of guardianship, without the consent of a natural parent otherwise required by law, if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that it is in the best interest of the child to terminate the natural parent's rights as to the child and that:

The child is abandoned;

In a prior juvenile proceeding, the child has been adjudicated to be a child in need of assistance, a neglected child, an abused child, or a dependent child;

The following set of circumstances exists:

The child has been continuously out of the
custody of the natural parent and in the custody
of a child placement agency for at least 1 year;

The conditions that led to the separation from
the natural parent still exist or similar
conditions of a potentially harmful nature still
exist;

There is little likelihood that those conditions
will be remedied at an early date so the child
can be returned to the natural parent in the
immediate future; and

A continuation of the relationship between the
natural parent and the child would diminish
greatly the child's prospects for early
integration into a stable and permanent family.

The court may find that a child is abandoned for
purposes of this section if, after a thorough
investigation by the child placement agency, the
court finds that:

The identity of the child's natural parents is unknown; and

No one has claimed to be the child's natural
parent within 2 months of the alleged
abandonment of the child.

Md. Code Ann. Fam. Law § 5-525.1(b)(1) (West,
WESTLAW through 2003 Reg. Sess.)

A local department to which a child is committed shall file a petition for termination of parental rights or join a termination of parental rights action that has been filed if:

The child has been in an out-of-home placement for 15 of the most recent 22 months;

A court finds that the child is an abandoned infant;

A court finds that the natural parent has been convicted:

In this State of a crime of violence, as defined in § 14-101 of the Criminal Law Article, against the child, the other natural parent of the child, another child of the natural parent, or any person who resides in the household of the natural parent;

In any State or in any court of the United
States of a crime that would be a crime of
violence if committed in this State against the
child, the other natural parent of the child,
another child of the natural parent, or any
person who resides in the household of the
natural parent; or

Of aiding or abetting, conspiring, or soliciting
to commit a crime as described above.