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Alizota v. Stanfield

A finding of deprivation cannot be based on evidence that a custodial parent may be forced to return to his country of origin or because he does not have a driver's license.

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This appeal arises from the trial court’s entry of judgment terminating Emmanuel Alizota’s parental rights and grant of a petition of adoption of S. K. filed by Ryan and Melissa Stanfield.1 When this Court originally addressed this appeal, we vacated the superior court order terminating Alizota’s parental rights and granting the Stanfields’ petition for adoption because the superior court lacked jurisdiction to enter an adoption order.2 The Stanfields petitioned the Supreme Court for certorari, which granted the petition and reversed our opinion, holding that because the termination of Alizota’s parental rights had not been raised previously in the juvenile court during deprivation proceedings, the juvenile court did not have priority jurisdiction over the termination.3 The Supreme court remanded the case for further proceedings, and we now reverse the trial court’s order, for the reasons that follow.

On appeal from an order terminating parental rights based on an adoption petition, we construe the evidence favorably to the trial court’s ruling and determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found by clear and convincing evidence that the biological parent’s rights to custody have been lost. We do not weigh the evidence or assess witness credibility, but defer to the trial court’s factual findings and affirm unless this standard is not met.4

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