In South Carolina there are 11 different grounds for terminating the parental rights of a biological or legal parent. The grounds for a TPR (the nickname for a court action to terminate a parent’s parental rights to a child) are set by statute. Before the Family Court can terminate a parent’s rights to their child, the court must find by “clear and convincing evidence” that at least one of the statutory grounds exists.
The statutory grounds are set out in South Carolina Code Section 63-7-2570. Below is a short description of each ground in the order they are given in the statute:
1. The parent abused or neglected the child and because of the severity or repetition of the abuse or neglect it is unlikely that the parent’s home can be made safe for the child within the next 12 months.
2. The child was removed from the parents because of abuse or neglect and the parent has not remedied the conditions which caused the removal within 6 months after a placement plan was put into effect by agreement or court order.
3. The parent has willfully failed to visit the child for a period of more than 6 months.
4. The parent has willfully failed to financially support the child for a period of more than 6 months.
5. The presumptive legal father of the child is not its biological father and it would be in the child’s best interest to terminate the presumptive father’s parental rights.
6. The parent suffers from a diagnosable condition which makes it unlikely that the parent can provide minimally acceptable care for the child. Diagnosable conditions include alcohol or drug addition, mental illness and extreme physical incapacity.
7. The parent has abandoned the child by willfully deserting the child or willfully surrendering physical possession of the child without making adequate arrangements for the needs or continuing care of the child.
8. The child has been in foster care for 15 of the last 22 months.
9. The parent was found guilty of certain crimes and the acts which the parent was convicted of resulted in the death or hospitalization of the child.
10. The parent was found guilty of murdering the child’s other parent.
11. The parent was convicted of the crime of criminal sexual conduct for the sexual act which resulted in the conception of the child. There is an exception to this rule for cases where the crime of criminal sexual conduct was based on the parents’ ages and not on non-consensual sexual conduct.