State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. Thomas T.

The parents of a six-year-old boy appeal from an order terminating their parental rights. The petition which led to that order alleged both that appellants were "unfit” by reason of conduct seriously detrimental to the child — conduct "of an abusive or cruel nature” — not likely to change in the foreseeable future, and that they had "failed and neglected without reasonable and lawful cause to provide for the basic physical and psychological needs” of the child during the preceding year.1 On appeal it is argued that the evidence produced below was not, contrary to the finding of the circuit…