J.T. v. Department of Children & Family Services

KELLY, Judge.

The appellant, J.T., challenges the final order terminating his parental rights to his son, T.B. We reverse.

T.B. was born on February 14,1997. In May 1998, T.B.’s mother identified J.T. as one of several potential fathers. The Department of Children and Family Services (the Department) waited until the middle of 1999 to perform the statutorily mandated “diligent search” to locate T.B.’s father.1 In 1999, J.T. was serving a five-year prison sentence with a tentative release date of mid-2001. He had been incarcerated since 1996.

When the Department located J.T., it told him about…