IN RE ADOPTION J9610436

• Decision Date: 16 April 2002
• Docket Number: No. 58,58
• Citation: 368 Md. 666,796 A.2d 778
• Parties: In re ADOPTION/GUARDIANSHIP NOS. J9610436 and J9711031 in the Circuit Court for Carroll County.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

796 A.2d 778

368 Md. 666

In re ADOPTION/GUARDIANSHIP NOS. J9610436 and J9711031 in the Circuit Court for Carroll County.

No. 58, Sept. Term, 2001.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

April 16, 2002.

Fred S. Hecker (MacDonald & Hecker, P.A., on brief), Westminster, for petitioner.

Nancy C. Hopkins, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen. of Maryland, on brief), Baltimore, for respondent.

Debra Gardner, Deborah Thompson Eisenberg, Lewis Yelin, Public Justice Center, Lauren Young, Kenneth Wardlaw, Maryland Disability Law Center, Stephen H. Sachs, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, Baltimore, brief of Amici Curiae, the Public Justice Center, The Maryland Regional Practitioners' Network for Fathers and Families and (As to Part I Only): The Maryland Law Center, The Arc of Anne Arundel County, The Arc of Maryland, The Arc of the United States, Independence Now, Making Choices for Independent Living, Maryland Adapt, Maryland Statewide Independent Living Council, and People on the Go of Maryland for petitioners, amici curiae

Argued before BELL, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL, HARRELL, and BATTAGLIA, JJ.

CATHELL, Judge.

Prior to a termination of parental rights, the parent and perhaps the child have fundamental federal and state constitutional rights to the maintenance of the parent/child relationship. This relationship, absent constitutional amendments, cannot be unreasonably abrogated by federal or state statutes, federal or state regulations, administrative practices, by the need to qualify for federal or state funds, or by the "safer course doctrine." These rights are the same where parents or children are alleged to be disabled. Under our Constitutions, the poor and the disabled are no less citizens entitled to the full range of constitutional protections. The Constitutions apply in the social welfare area as fully as in any other area of American life. There is a strong presumption in matters relating to termination of parental rights cases, that the "best interests" of a child, generally, are met by not terminating the parental rights of natural parents. In termination of parental rights cases, it is this presumption that most insures the proper deference to a parent's fundamental and constitutional right to parent. It is from this perspective that we commence our review of this case.

I. Parenting as a Fundamental Right

Certain fundamental rights are protected under the Constitutions. Among those rights is the right to child rearing, i.e., parenting. Supreme Court case law has consistently reaffirmed parental rights.

We recently stated in Boswell v. Boswell, 352 Md. 204, 217-20, 721 A.2d 662, 668-69 (1998), that:

"A parent has a fundamental right to the care and custody of his or her child. The United States Supreme Court has upheld the rights of parents regarding the care, custody, and management of their children in several contexts, including child rearing, education, and religion. See Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 92 S.Ct. 1526, 32 L.Ed.2d 15 (1972)

(overturning a mandatory schooling law in the face of Amish claims of parental authority and religious liberty); Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645, 92 S.Ct. 1208, 31 L.Ed.2d 551 (1972) (discussing the right of parents to raise their children); Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 166, 64 S.Ct. 438, 442, 88 L.Ed. 645, 652 (1944) (observing that `the custody, care, and nurture of the child reside first in the parents'); Skinner v. Oklahoma, 316 U.S. 535, 541, 62 S.Ct. 1110, 1113, 86 L.Ed. 1655, 1660 (1942) (stating the right to rear a child is encompassed within a parent's `basic civil rights').... The Supreme Court's long history of affording protection to parents in the realm of child rearing and family life was acknowledged in Wolinski v. Browneller, 115 Md.App. 285, 299, 693 A.2d 30, 36-37 (1997):

`A parent's Fourteenth Amendment liberty interest in raising his or her children as she sees fit, without undue interference by the State, has long been a facet of that private realm of family affairs over which the Supreme Court has draped a cloak of constitutional protection.'

In accordance with the Supreme Court, Maryland has declared that a parent's interest in raising a child is a fundamental right that cannot be taken away unless clearly justified.

...

... [T]his Court has held that the best interests of the child may take precedence over the parent's liberty interest in the course of a custody, visitation, or adoption dispute.... The best interest standard does not ignore the interests of the parents and their importance to the child. We recognize that in almost all cases, it is in the best interests of the child to have reasonable maximum opportunity to develop a close and loving relationship with each parent." [Some citations omitted.]

See Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557, 89 S.Ct. 1243, 22 L.Ed.2d 542 (1969)

; see also Skinner v. Oklahoma, 316 U.S. 535, 62 S.Ct. 1110, 86 L.Ed. 1655 (1942); Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11, 25 S.Ct. 358, 49 L.Ed. 643 (1905).

Most recently, in In re Mark M., 365 Md. 687, 705, 782 A.2d 332, 342-43 (2001), this Court reiterated the notion of parenting as a fundamental right:

"A parent's interest in raising a child is, no doubt, a fundamental right, recognized by the United States Supreme Court and this Court. The United States Supreme Court has long avowed the basic civil right encompassed by child rearing and family life. See Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 66, 120 S.Ct. 2054, 2060, 147 L.Ed.2d 49, 57 (2000)

(stating that `the Fourteenth Amendment protects the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children'); See also Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 753, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 1394-95, 71 L.Ed.2d 599, 606 (1982) (discussing `the fundamental liberty interest of natural parents in the care, custody, and management of their child'); Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645, 651, 92 S.Ct. 1208, 1212-13, 31 L.Ed.2d 551, 558-59 (1972) (stating that `[t]he rights to conceive and to raise one's children have been deemed "essential,"` and that `[t]he integrity of the family unit has found protection in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment ... the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment ... and the Ninth Amendment..." (internal citations omitted)). Maryland, too, has declared a parent's interest in raising a child to be so fundamental that it `cannot be taken away unless clearly justified.' Boswell v. Boswell, 352 Md. 204, 218, 721 A.2d 662, 669 (1998) (citing In re Adoption No. 10941, 335 Md. 99, 112, 642 A.2d 201 (1994))."

In Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 71 L.Ed.2d 599 (1982), the Supreme Court of the United States reaffirmed the rights of parents when there are allegations of neglect and they are involved in a proceeding to terminate their parental rights. Prior to Santosky, some states had terminated parental rights based upon a minimal standard of a "fair preponderance of the evidence." In Santosky, the Supreme Court held that, "the `fair preponderance of the evidence' standard... violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment." Id. at 768, 102 S.Ct. at 1402, 71 L.Ed.2d at 616.

The Court concluded that in order to terminate a parent-child relationship, a "clear and convincing evidence" standard of proof was needed. Before the Court addressed the proper standard to use in termination proceedings, it again recognized the weight given to parental rights:

"The fundamental liberty interest of natural parents in the care, custody, and management of their child does not evaporate simply because they have not been model parents or have lost temporary custody of their child to the State. Even when blood relationships are strained, parents retain a vital interest in preventing the irretrievable destruction of their family life. If anything, persons faced with forced dissolution of their parental rights have a more critical need for procedural protections than do those resisting state intervention into ongoing family affairs."

Id. at 753, 102 S.Ct. at 1394-95, 71 L.Ed.2d at 606 (emphasis added).

The applicable State laws, in order to meet the requirements of the Federal Constitution and Article 24 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights, contain certain protections for parents. First, Maryland law presumes that reunification with the natural parent is in the child's "best interest." Additionally, Maryland's law requires that the court must consider the nature and extent of services offered by the child placement agency to facilitate reunion of the child with the natural parent prior to a termination of parental rights. Specifically, Maryland Code (1984, 1999 Repl.Vol.), section 5-313 of the Family Law Article, the section at issue in this case, bolsters Maryland's already stringent statutory standards that must be satisfied before termination of parental rights can occur.

Not only have Maryland courts long recognized this notion of the fundamental right to rear a child, but the courts have emphasized that this fundamental right may not be terminated unless clearly justified. In In re Adoption/Guardianship No. 10941, 335 Md. 99, 105, 642 A.2d 201, 204 (1994), we noted: "Maryland receives considerable federal funds pursuant to this [federal] Act.¹ Accordingly, the Maryland General Assembly has enacted legislation to comply with the federal requirements." "One of the most important purposes of this law was to eliminate foster care drift by requiring states to adopt statutes to facilitate permanent placement for children as a condition to receiving federal funding for their foster care and adoption assistance programs." Id. at 104, 642 A.2d at 204. Nonetheless, we held that: "First and foremost, the department must consider returning the child to the child's natural parents or guardians." Id. at 105, 642 A.2d at 204-05.

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