A.D.B.H. v. Houston County Department of Human Resources

Pursuant to Roe v. Conn, 417 F.Supp. 769, 779 (M.D.Ala.1976), a state must establish that it has a compelling govern*65mental interest before terminating a parent’s parental rights. Under a strict-scrutiny analysis, the state is required to achieve this objective in a means that is least restrictive or drastic. As the Conn court stated: “The State’s interest, however, would become ‘compelling’ enough to sever entirely the parent-child relationship only when the child is subjected to real physical or emotional harm and less drastic measures would be unavailing.” Id. (emphasis added).

After Conn,…