Following the termination of their parental rights to ten-year-old T. B. R., both the mother and the putative father appeal. In Case No. A10A1444, the mother challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the juvenile court’s judgment and argues that the court erred in failing to require the Department of Family and Children Services “DFCS” to make an exhaustive search for family placement for T. B. R. and in failing to require DFCS to pursue alternatives to termination. In Case No. A10A1445, the father similarly challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and further argues that the juvenile court erred in denying his motion for a continuance of the termination hearing and in failing to produce him from prison for earlier deprivation hearings. We have consolidated the parents’ cases for review, and, for the reasons set forth below, we affirm in each case. “We review an order terminating parental rights in a light favorable to the juvenile court’s ruling to determine whether the finder of fact could have found by clear and convincing evidence that the parents’ rights to custody should be terminated.” In the Interest of A. G. 1 “In so doing, we do not weigh the evidence or determine the credibility of witnesses; rather, we defer to the juvenile court’s factfinding and affirm unless the appellate standard is not met.” In the Interest of B. W. 2 “Nonetheless, we are mindful that because no judicial determination has more drastic significance than permanently severing a parent-child relationship, such severance must be exercised cautiously and scrutinized deliberately.” Punctuation omitted. In the Interest of J. K. 3
Viewed in the favor of the juvenile court’s judgment, the evidence shows that on January 25, 2007, the juvenile court entered a shelter care order as to then seven-year-old T. B. R. based on the fact that his mother, who had been in a drug abuse treatment center, had been hospitalized to undergo gall bladder surgery, his father was incarcerated, and there were no relatives capable of caring for the child. The next day, the court held a 72-hour hearing and granted custody of T. B. R. to DFCS after finding that T. B. R.’s mother would need six weeks to recuperate from surgery, that his father was currently incarcerated, and that no relatives were able to care for T. B. R., who had been diagnosed as autistic.
