In re A.N.B., ___ N.C. App. ___ (August 15, 2023)

Held: 
Affirmed
  • Facts: This matter involves a private TPR initiated by mother against father. Father filed an answer denying the allegations. The court appointed the public defender’s office as the GAL for the juvenile. The public defender’s office delegated the GAL duties to a licensed attorney, per local rules. The GAL completed an investigation and prepared a GAL court report in which termination of father’s parental rights was recommended. The GAL testified at the dispositional hearing. Father did not raise objections or concerns about the GAL’s role and need for the juvenile to have separate legal representation. The TPR was granted on the grounds of willful abandonment. Father appeals, asserting the trial court erred by failing to appoint an attorney for the minor child and failing to make sufficient findings of fact to support its conclusions. Father also filed a Rule 60 motion raising the failure to appoint separate legal representation for the child. This summary focuses on father’s challenge regarding the role of the child’s GAL.
  • Rule of Appellate Procedure 10(a)(1) states that“[i]n order to preserve an issue for appellate review, a party must have presented to the trial court a timely . . . objection, or motion, stating the specific grounds for the ruling the party desired to make if the specific grounds were not apparent from the context.” Sl. Op. at 17-18.
  • G.S. 7B-1108 determines when a GAL is appointed for a child in a TPR proceeding. The court of appeals has held that violations of G.S. 7B-1108 are not automatically preserved for appellate review. Sl. Op. at 18 (citation omitted).
  • Father did not preserve the issue of the attorney’s role as the child’s GAL for appellate review. Father failed to object at trial regarding the attorney’s role as the child’s GAL or the need for separate legal representation for the child.
  • Appellate Rule 2, which allows the appellate court to suspend or vary the requirements of any appellate rule of procedure, is used cautiously and in exceptional circumstances, which do no not exist here.
Category:
Termination of Parental Rights
Stage:
Appeal
Topic:
Tags:
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role of GAL
waive issue