In re M. C. J.

Benham, Chief Justice.

This appeal concerns the proper forum for an action in which one parent seeks termination of the parental rights of the other parent by means of a deprivation petition. Appellant, the mother of two children, filed an action in juvenile court under OCGA § 15-11-80 et seq. to terminate the parental rights of the children’s biological father, appellee, to whom she had never been married and who had never legitimated the children. The children have been in the sole physical custody of their mother since birth. She based her petition for termination of appellee’s parental…