T.E.D. v. Department of Children & Family Services

ALTENBERND, Chief Judge.

In this case, an order terminating parental rights was entered based upon a “default.” The father was three minutes late for the initial advisory hearing. He waited outside the courtroom in the waiting area for forty-five minutes until given 'informa*406tion as to the proper courtroom. He was “defaulted.” Although an attorney had been appointed to represent the father in an earlier shelter hearing1 and in the dependency proceeding,2 the father was unrepresented in the termination proceeding.3 Within ten days from the entry of the default, the father mailed a letter to the…