The power to permanently sever the legal relationship between a parent and child is one of the harshest actions the state can exercise against families. Given its severity, the Texas Legislature should ensure that legal grounds for termination are limited and narrowly tailored.
Key points:
- Both the United States and Texas Supreme Courts have long recognized that the parent-child relationship is a fundamental Constitutional right with expansive protections against government interference with private familial relations.
- Severing the legal relationship between a parent and their child is a “devastatingly adverse action” that is among the most “severe and irreversible” powers the state can exercise against a family.
- During fiscal year 2022, there were 64,561 children in the U.S. foster care system for whom parental rights had been terminated. 7,198 of these children lived in Texas.
- There is considerable inconsistency in and disagreement over the application of the grounds for terminating parental rights contained in the Texas Family Code, which can result in unequal and unjust outcomes.