TITLE 16

JUVENILE PROCEEDINGS

CHAPTER 20

TERMINATION OF PARENT AND CHILD RELATIONSHIP

16-2001.  Purpose. (1) The purpose of this chapter is to:

(a)  Provide for voluntary and involuntary severance of the parent and child relationship and for substitution of parental care and supervision by judicial process, thereby safeguarding the rights and interests of all parties concerned and promoting their welfare and that of the state of Idaho; and

(b)  Provide permanency for children who are under the jurisdiction of the court through the child protective act, chapter 16, title 16, Idaho Code, where the court has found the existence of aggravated circumstances or that reasonable efforts to return the child to his or her home have failed.

(2)  Implicit in this chapter is the philosophy that wherever possible family life should be strengthened and preserved and that the issue of severing the parent and child relationship is of such vital importance as to require a judicial determination in place of attempts at severance by contractual arrangements, express or implied, for the surrender and relinquishment of children. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to allow discrimination in favor of, or against, on the basis of disability.

History:

[16-2001, added 1963, ch. 145, sec. 1, p. 420; am. 2002, ch. 233, sec. 8, p. 677; am. 2005, ch. 391, sec. 46, p. 1295.]