Knox v. Lynchburg Division of Social Services

In this case, the trial court terminated the residual parental rights of the mother of three minor children. The principal question presented stems from our 1975 decision in Rocka v. Roanoke Co. Dep’t of Welfare, 215 Va. 515, 211 S.E.2d 76, and the General Assembly’s 1977 enactment of Code § 16.1-283. 1 Specifically, the question is whether § 16.1-283 modifies the Rocka rule that, *217in a contest between a parent and a social service agency, the *218court may not terminate the rights of the parent absent an express finding of parental unfitness.2

The present case involves a girl, born April 14, 1973,…