The mother of S. J. contests juvenile court orders finding her child deprived and placing S. J. in the custody of the child’s paternal grandmother. Because the evidence was insufficient to support a finding that S. J. was deprived, the contested orders were unauthorized and therefore are reversed. OCGA § 15-11-2 8 A defines a “deprived child” as one “without proper parental care or control, subsistence, education as required by law, or other care or control necessary for the child’s physical, mental, or emotional health or morals.” That definition “focuses upon the needs of the child regardless of parental fault. . . . The deprivation petition is brought on behalf of the child and it is the child’s welfare and not who is responsible for the conditions which amount to deprivation that is the issue.”1 To authorize even a loss of temporary custody by a child’s parents, on the basis of deprivation, the deprivation must be shown to have resulted from unfitness on the part of the parent, that is, either intentional or unintentional misconduct resulting in the abuse or neglect of the child or by what is tantamount to physical or mental incapability to care for the child.2 On appeal from a determination that a child is deprived, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the juvenile court’s judgment to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found by clear and convincing evidence that the child was deprived.3 Parental unfitness must also be proved by clear and convincing evidence.4
This standard of review safeguards the high value society places on the integrity of the family unit and helps eliminate the risk that a factfinder might base his determination on a few isolated instances of unusual conduct or idiosyncratic behavior. Only under compelling circumstances found to exist by clear and convincing proof may a court sever the parent-child custodial relationship.5 On June 12, 2003, the Cobb County Department of Family and Children Services DFCS filed a petition in juvenile court alleging that S. J. was deprived due to the following circumstances:
