In Re the Welfare of C.L.L.

SCOTT, Justice.

This is an appeal by Carl Locke from an order of the Hennepin County District Court, Juvenile Division, terminating his parental rights and those of his wife, Carol Feather Locke, with respect to their three children. Mrs. Locke is not appealing the order.

The children in question were born in 1972, 1973, and 1976.

The Hennepin County Welfare Department first became involved with the family in 1974. Appellant had disappeared and Mrs. Locke had left the children with a neighbor. The neighbor called the police after getting tired of caring for the children.

In the ensuing years the…