Termination under § 19b(3)(c)(i); Failure to participate in & benefit from services; In re White; Child’s best-interests; In re Moss

The court held that § (c)(i) was met and that termination of respondent-father’s parental rights was in the child’s best interests where he failed to benefit from the services offered and would be unable to rectify the conditions that led to the adjudication. In terminating his parental rights, the trial court noted his “history of combative, aggressive, and defiant conduct throughout the case.” On appeal, the court rejected respondent’s challenge to the finding that a statutory ground existed, noting that more than 540 days had elapsed since the initial disposition. Further, his partial participation in services did not translate into change as he “engaged in an extraordinary and persistent degree of combativeness, defiance, aggression, selfishness, and lack of accountability” throughout the case. He refused to sign various documents, disrupted parenting time to the point of suspension, and never provided the requested neurological or psychiatric evaluations. It noted that a “‘parent’s failure to participate in and benefit from a service plan is evidence that the parent will not be able to provide a child proper care and custody[,]’” and that “the ‘Legislature did not intend that children be left indefinitely in foster care, but rather that parental rights be terminated if the conditions leading to the proceedings could not be rectified within a reasonable time.’” As to best interests, the court acknowledged respondent’s bond but upheld termination given the child’s need for stability and the strong record of domestic violence and noncompliance. The record showed respondent “‘simply failing to work within the service plan, with his counsel, with the placement, with the [trial] court, or with anyone involved in this case.’” The child had been out of respondent’s care for 23 months, over half his life, was thriving in a relative placement, and needed permanency. Affirmed.