Connecticut Supreme Court
SC19643, SC19644 - In re Egypt E. ("The respondent father, Morsy E., and the respondent mother, Natasha E., filed separate appeals from the judgments of the trial court terminating their parental rights as to their minor children, Egypt E. and Mariam E. On appeal, the respondents claim that the trial court improperly terminated their parental rights to their minor children pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 2013) § 17a-112 (j). As a threshold matter, the petitioner, the Commissioner of Children and Families, asserts that this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to hear the respondents' appeals because the respondents did not appeal from the judgments of the trial court terminating their rights as to their minor children on the ground that reunification efforts were not required under General Statutes (Rev. to 2013) §§ 17a-112 (j) and 17a-111b (b). After a thorough review of the record, we conclude that, due to a clerical error at the trial court, the record is not sufficiently clear to determine whether the respondents were properly notified of the basis of the trial court's judgments such that they could properly appeal from its determination that the petitioner was not required to make reunification efforts pursuant to §§ 17a-112 (j) and 17a-111b (b). Accordingly, because the clerical error at the trial court implicates both the integrity of the trial court's record keeping and the due process rights of the respondents to appeal from the judgments of the trial court terminating their parental rights, we must remand the matter for a new trial.")
Connecticut Appellate Court
AC38541 - In re Carla C. (Termination of parental rights; "In this appeal from the termination of the parental rights of the respondent father, Carlos C., the dispositive issues are (1) whether a parent's involvement in a crime before the birth of his child may be an act of parental commission or omission forming the basis for termination of his parental rights pursuant to General Statutes § 45a-717 (g) (2) (B), and (2) whether a court may find that no ongoing parent-child relationship exists, pursuant to § 45a-717 (g) (2) (C), when a custodial parent's conduct has contributed significantly to the establishment of that ground for termination. We agree with the respondent that his commission of a crime before the birth of the child in this case, Carla C. (Carla), is not a parental act of commission or omission, as that basis for termination properly is understood. We also agree with the respondent that when a custodial parent has interfered with an incarcerated parent's visitation and other efforts to maintain an ongoing parent-child relationship with the parties' child, the custodial parent cannot terminate the noncustodial parent's parental rights on the ground of no ongoing parent-child relationship. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the trial court granting the petition of the petitioner mother, Glenda G., for termination of the respondent's parental rights as to Carla.")
AC38665 - In re David B. (Termination of parental rights; appeal from Probate Court; trial de novo; "The sole issue raised in the present appeal is whether the trial court, in adjudicating a petition to terminate parental rights originating in Probate Court, had the authority, following the death of the original petitioner and legal guardian of the minor child during the pendency of the proceedings, to grant a motion to substitute the child's newly appointed legal guardian as the petitioner in place of the decedent. We conclude that, under the unique set of circumstances presented here, such a substitution was both legally permissible and appropriate given that the newly appointed legal guardian is authorized to bring the termination action herself.")