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Pa. Superior Court upholds parental termination case

The Pennsylvania Superior Court has upheld a decision by a Huntingdon County judge who terminated the parental rights of a father because of safety concerns for the child.

President Judge George N. Zanic on Oct. 24 granted a request by Huntingdon County Children and Youth Service Agency requesting the involuntary termination of both the mother’s and father’s rights.

The father, who is referred to in the Superior Court decision only by his initials, appealed the judge’s decision, questioning whether there was enough evidence produced during several hearings to warrant termination under the law.

The dad emphasized he had been attending anger management classes and contended the judge had abused his discretion in granting termination.

The judge in his opinion stated, “The undisputed evidence at the hearing established that there was no bond between the child and his natural parents.”

The mother admitted to a member of a group called Proud to be a Parent that she didn’t have a bond with her son.

The hearings established there was a strong bond between the child and his foster mother, who is a maternal relative, and that the foster parents have “provided outstanding care and love.”

The mother did not appeal the judge’s ruling.

The father was ordered to participate in counseling, to successfully complete a parenting program and to participate in a mental health evaluation.

The goal initially was to reunify the child with his parents, but, as the judge indicated in his October opinion, the agency quickly terminated home visits because of the anger and verbal assaults of father toward the caseworker.

The county judge noted the father’s anger spilled into the courtroom during one of the hearings.

It was concluded the father was suffering from a mental health disorder, and a psychologist concluded it was not safe for the father to have unsupervised visits with the child.

The judge concluded that no evidence at the termination hearing suggested things had gotten better over a two-year period in which the child was under the care of the county’s child welfare agency.

A Superior Court panel of Judges John L. Musmanno, Mary Jane Bowes and Alice B. Dubow found there was no abuse of discretion by the county judge who emphasized the child’s need for safety and ruled “the risk that father posed outweighs any bond that might exist between father and child.”

The child was born in late 2016, but within weeks the child welfare agency became involved after the mother made a comment that “she wanted to smother child.”

The father had been heard commenting that he would hit the child with a belt if he started to cry.

Zanic granted the agency’s dependency request and the child was placed in foster care.

By May 4, 2018, the agency filed a petition to terminate the parental rights of the father.

Reunification was established as a goal, but, visitation to the home of the parents was ended and moved to agency offices after the father in a “curse-laden tirade” told the caseworker he hoped she would die.

While the father’s temper became a factor, the mother, it was deemed, was unable, without help, “to perform the most basic tasks for the child, including holding him, feeding him and changing him.”

The child’s legal interests were represented by attorney Erica S. Shoaf while the child’s best interests were represented by court-appointed attorney Michael M. Kipphan.

The father was repersented by Attorney William Tressler of Bellefonte.

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