2006 Minnesota Statutes

260C.317 TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS; EFFECT.
    Subdivision 1. Termination. If, after a hearing, the court finds by clear and convincing
evidence that one or more of the conditions set out in section 260C.301 exist, it may terminate
parental rights. Upon the termination of parental rights all rights, powers, privileges, immunities,
duties, and obligations, including any rights to custody, control, visitation, or support existing
between the child and parent shall be severed and terminated and the parent shall have no standing
to appear at any further legal proceeding concerning the child. Provided, however, that a parent
whose parental rights are terminated:
(1) shall remain liable for the unpaid balance of any support obligation owed under a court
order upon the effective date of the order terminating parental rights; and
(2) may be a party to a communication or contact agreement under section 259.58.
    Subd. 2. Order; terminating relationship. An order terminating the parent and child
relationship shall not disentitle a child to any benefit due the child from any third person, agency,
state, or the United States, nor shall any action under this section be deemed to affect any rights
and benefits that a child derives from the child's descent from a member of a federally recognized
Indian tribe.
    Subd. 3. Order; retention of jurisdiction. (a) A certified copy of the findings and the order
terminating parental rights, and a summary of the court's information concerning the child shall be
furnished by the court to the commissioner or the agency to which guardianship is transferred. The
orders shall be on a document separate from the findings. The court shall furnish the individual to
whom guardianship is transferred a copy of the order terminating parental rights.
(b) The court shall retain jurisdiction in a case where adoption is the intended permanent
placement disposition until the child's adoption is finalized, the child is 18 years of age, or the
child is otherwise ordered discharged from the jurisdiction of the court. The guardian ad litem and
counsel for the child shall continue on the case until an adoption decree is entered. A hearing must
be held every 90 days following termination of parental rights for the court to review progress
toward an adoptive placement and the specific recruitment efforts the agency has taken to find an
adoptive family or other placement living arrangement for the child and to finalize the adoption
or other permanency plan.
(c) The responsible social services agency may make a determination of compelling reasons
for a child to be in long-term foster care when the agency has made exhaustive efforts to recruit,
identify, and place the child in an adoptive home, and the child continues in foster care for at least
24 months after the court has issued the order terminating parental rights. Upon approving the
agency's determination of compelling reasons, the court may order the child placed in long-term
foster care. At least every 12 months thereafter as long as the child continues in out-of-home
placement, the court shall conduct a permanency review hearing to determine the future status of
the child using the review requirements of section 260C.201, subdivision 11, paragraph (g).
(d) The court shall retain jurisdiction through the child's minority in a case where long-term
foster care is the permanent disposition whether under paragraph (c) or section 260C.201,
subdivision 11 .
    Subd. 4. Rights of terminated parent. Upon entry of an order terminating the parental
rights of any person who is identified as a parent on the original birth record of the child as to
whom the parental rights are terminated, the court shall cause written notice to be made to that
person setting forth:
(1) the right of the person to file at any time with the state registrar of vital statistics a
consent to disclosure, as defined in section 144.212, subdivision 11;
(2) the right of the person to file at any time with the state registrar of vital statistics an
affidavit stating that the information on the original birth record shall not be disclosed as provided
in section 144.2252; and
(3) the effect of a failure to file either a consent to disclosure, as defined in section 144.212,
subdivision 11 , or an affidavit stating that the information on the original birth record shall not be
disclosed.
History: 1999 c 139 art 3 s 33; 2001 c 178 art 1 s 38; 1Sp2001 c 9 art 15 s 31,32; 2002 c
290 s 3; 2002 c 379 art 1 s 113; 2005 c 159 art 2 s 20