In re Brittany L.

HORTON, j.

The respondent, Ernest L., appeals an order of the Hillsborough County Probate Court (Cloutier, J.) terminating his parental rights over his daughter, Brittany L. We affirm.

Except for an initial period in the New Hampshire State Prison, Ernest L. has been incarcerated on a drug-related offense in various *141federal penitentiaries across the country since November 1990. Brittany L. was nine months old when her father was first incarcerated and has been mostly under the care of her mother, Deborah C., since birth. In May 1996, Deborah C. filed a petition to terminate Ernest L.’s parental…