Immediate Termination of Parental Rights

Hello, my name is Brian L. Jackson. I’m a Tulsa father’s rights attorney here with Dads.Law, where fathers are not disposable. And we’re on location today in front of the Arkansas River, and you can see the public service power plant behind me.

I want to talk to you guys about a situation that I hope, hopefully, the majority of you will never find yourselves in. But it does come up in some cases in deprived court, which is a petition for adjudication of the child as deprived and immediate termination of parental rights.

Now, where this usually comes up is in particularly bad situations. And there’s a couple of scenarios that the law contemplates where immediate termination is warranted. If you have what’s called shocking and heinous abuse, or shocking and heinous neglect, or outright abandonment of the child are the two big ones.

Now, shocking and heinous abuse would be things like where you have abuse that causes serious injury or permanent damage. Sexual abuse can be considered shocking and heinous. And it’s similar with neglect. You know, if you have a situation where the child is permanently damaged or injured or severely malnourished or something like that, that would be considered shocking and heinous. And that is grounds to terminate your rights immediately without allowing you to work a plan.

Understanding the Seriousness of Immediate Termination

Sometimes what can happen in that situation is the state will file that in the hopes of compelling the person to stipulate the petition and then will put it on hold in abeyance, which means they put it on pause to see if you’ll clean up your act. But that’s typically what you’re looking at with an immediate termination situation. And that is a serious situation to find yourself in.

I mean, I’ve heard lawyers refer to parental right termination as being the death penalty for families. And I don’t think that’s an inaccurate way to describe it. If you have your rights terminated, you don’t even get to visit your kids. You don’t even get to talk to them on the phone. You’re not a parent to that child as far as the law is concerned anymore.

So, if you are facing immediate termination, you definitely need a good lawyer. And one place you can find a good lawyer is at Dads.Law, where fathers are not disposable.

Contact Us for a Low-cost Strategy Session

If you need assistance with your parental rights case or want to learn more about how we can help, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us for ainitial strategy session . We are here to support you and provide the guidance you need during this challenging time.