In re R.T.W.

NEWBY, Justice.

The issue is whether a trial court retains jurisdiction to enter an order terminating parental rights while a custody order in the same case is pending appellate review. We conclude it does and reverse the Court of Appeals.

I. BACKGROUND

In December of 2000, Child Protective Services (CPS) received a report alleging respondent — then age fourteen — had been sexually abused by her twenty-one-year-old half-brother while living with her mother in Hillsborough. An investigation revealed respondent was pregnant with her half-brother’s child. Respondent’s half-brother was eventually…