Constitutional Challenge Regarding Termination of Parental Rights in Pennsylvania

Dan Aiken, a partner at Drinker Biddle, under the auspices of the Foundation represents a Pennsylvania-based mother of two children, who seeks to terminate all parental rights of the children’s father, who was also the mother’s adopted father. Our client suffered more than 15 years of rape by her adopted father, beginning when she was four. Our client’s two children are the product of that abuse. Pennsylvania law has been interpreted, so far, to prevent our client from terminating her abuser’s parental rights unless she is seeking to do so in aid of giving up her children for adoption, or in aid of finding a new partner to adopt her children as a co-parent. We contend that these unnecessarily restrictive requirements violate our client’s rights under the United States and Pennsylvania Constitutions. So far, the trial court has found that, although termination of parental rights would otherwise be appropriate under the facts of our case, the law prohibited such an order given that there is no anticipated adoption. We have filed a Notice of Appeal and intend to continue litigating this issue.