In re the Parental Rights to B.P.

¶46 (dissenting) — In parental termination cases, the State of Washington inevitably advances the proposition that the best interest of the child is the court’s primary concern. The State also routinely repeats a corollary mantra that, when the interest of the parent and the child conflict, the child’s interests prevail. Unfortunately, the State’s dogma ignores the principle that the paramount goal of child welfare legislation is to reunite the child with his or her legal parents, if reasonably possible. In re Dependency of K.N.J., 171 Wn.2d 568, 577, 257 P.3d 522 (2011). Sometimes reuniting…