In the Matter of the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of E.M. and El.M., E.M., Appellant (Respondent)…

Summary

The Indiana Supreme Court granted transfer and affirmed a trial court's judgment involuntarily terminating a father's parental rights to his two young children, holding that a divided Court of Appeals panel contravened the governing standard of review by reweighing evidence and overemphasizing the father's recent progress. The Court reiterated that termination judgments receive highly deferential review: the appellate court considers only evidence favorable to the judgment and asks whether the evidence clearly and convincingly supports the findings and whether the findings clearly and convincingly support the judgment, without independently deciding whether that heightened burden was met. Applying that standard, the Court upheld the trial court's conclusions that Father's belated efforts were outweighed by his history of domestic violence, hostility toward services, and continuing denial of any violence problem, and that the children's need for permanency after nearly three and a half years out of the home controlled the best-interests analysis. Justice Rucker dissented, contending that key trial-court findings were unsupported by any evidence, that the State failed to carry its clear-and-convincing burden, and that 'close' evidence cannot satisfy the heightened standard.