In re D.R.J., 381 N.C. 381 (2022)
Held:
Reversed
- Facts: In 2018, the juvenile was adjudicated neglected and placed in DSS custody. Reunification was eliminated as a permanent plan. In 2020, DSS filed a TPR motion that was granted. Father appeals. One of his arguments is that he was “unfairly denied custody” as the juvenile should have been placed with him since there was no finding of his unfitness or acting inconsistently with his parental rights and the circumstances regarding the neglect resulted from mother’s substance use.
- Father stipulated to facts resulting in the juvenile’s adjudication and did not appeal the adjudication and dispositional orders. A “failure to appeal ‘generally serves to preclude a subsequent collateral attack . . . during an appeal of a later order terminating the parent’s parental rights[.]’ ” 381 N.C. at 386 (citation omitted). Because the underlying juvenile orders are not void for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, father is precluded for making a collateral attack on those orders.
Category:
Termination of Parental RightsStage:
PleadingTopic:
Sufficiency