Department of Human Services v. L. D. K.

Mother appeals judgments terminating her parental rights to six children. The case against mother rested, in large part, on mother’s relationship with the father of the three youngest children, BJ. The Department of Human Services (DHS) sought to terminate mother’s rights on the ground, among others, that mother suffered from a personality disorder that causes mother to be overly dependent on her partner—in this case, BJ, whom DHS alleged was himself unfit to parent the children. After a consolidated trial, the trial court terminated both mother’s and BJ’s parental rights. In Dept. of Human…