Termination of parental rights (TPR) is the severance by court order of the legal relationship between a minor child and one or both of its parents. This can be done involuntarily or voluntarily. Should it happen, the child and parents become legal strangers. Because of the finality of this proceeding, a court will hold a hearing on a TPR petition. At the hearing, interested parties, represented by attorneys if they wish, have the opportunity to present evidence and witnesses to support their positions. The petitioner has the obligation to prove to the court that a TPR would be in the child's best interests. Each state articulates specific evidentiary criteria. In 2019, parental rights were terminated 71,300 times in the United States.

According to the Children's Bureau, CYF/ACF/HHS (2021), the "most common statutory grounds for determining parental unfitness include the following:

• Severe or chronic abuse or neglect.
• Sexual abuse.
• Abuse or neglect of other children in the household.
• Abandonment of the child.
• Long-term mental illness or deficiency of the parent(s).
• Long-term alcohol- or drug-induced incapacity of the parent(s).
• Failure to support or maintain contact with the child.
• Involuntary termination of the rights of the parent to another child."

Parenting a child with special needs can be particularly challenging. Nonetheless, is the standard for terminating their parental rights the same as a parent whose child does not have special needs? Last month, the Court of Appeals of Texas, First District, Houston, decided In the Interest of O.J.P. (NO. 01-21-00163-CV, September 21, 2021). It held that, "Sufficient evidence supported the trial court's finding that termination of the mother's parental rights was in the child's best interest under Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 161.001(b), because the child had special needs due to autism and the mother did not demonstrate an ability to meet the child's needs."