The future after termination of parental rights
Dear Mrs Macaulay,
My parental rights were terminated in the state of Florida back in 2009. I have a question that has been bothering me for some time now. I am now 37 years old. I am an American citizen, born in the USA. I know that I no longer have any rights concerning that one child and I don’t have any other children now.
But if I decide to have a child in the future in Jamaica (my grandfather’s birthplace is Clarendon), will my rights be automatically terminated and that child removed from the hospital at birth in Jamaica? Or will this be on a case-by-case basis with an alert to the Department of Children and Family Services in the US?
I plan to travel to Jamaica to find long-lost relatives and reunite. But if I decide while there to get married and have babies, will my past come back to haunt me?
You have not stated the reason(s) why your parental rights were terminated in 2009, but clearly your actions vis-a-vis that child must have been considered so egregious by the court that it had to arrive at the extreme conclusion it did of stripping you of all your parental rights.
Have you changed? Have your circumstances and conduct changed? Have you considered applying for the reinstatement of your parental rights to the court in Florida? Have you at least enquired whether you can make such an application and what you will have to prove to achieve a decision in your favour?
Anyway, what you wish to know is whether, if you have a child in Jamaica, your parental rights to such a child will automatically be terminated.
I can only answer this in general terms, as you have not disclosed the reason for the termination of your parental rights. If the reason was that you were a deadbeat dad regarding the provision of maintenance for your child and/or demonstrated no interest whatsoever in the child and its welfare, then the fact that your rights were terminated with regard to one child will not affect your right to be a full parent to any future child you may have. But you must behave as a responsible parent both in the state of Florida and in Jamaica. We also have strict and clear laws about parental rights and parental obligations here in Jamaica.
If your conduct which resulted in the termination of your parental rights was based on the fact that you were convicted of an offence of grave and/or habitual abuse of your child, endangering the child’s life, personal integrity of his or her person, or which caused really serious injury to the child, and if you were convicted of paedophilic and/or incestuous acts, then such a conviction or convictions would indeed follow you and bar you from exercising any of your parental rights. In the latter cases, you will be considered a danger to any child you may have now or in the future.
Thus it would really depend on why the court in Florida took away your rights. If you are a child molester or have been convicted of incest and you seek to travel to another country, an alert from the Florida authorities should be sent to inform the country to which you are travelling of your proposed arrival. Jamaica also has strict laws relating to child molesters, and a register of such persons convicted here is kept. So if Immigration is alerted that such a person is on the way here, that person would or should be placed at least on a ‘watch list’, and depending on their conduct here, further action may be taken against them.
So your circumstances would depend on why the court in Florida did what it did and whether it was for an action or actions for which you can be rehabilitated or not. If you are a child sexual predator, do not think that Jamaica would be kinder to you. It will not. As I said, there are relevant laws here also to protect our children and punish those who harm them. If your conduct was restricted to being a negligent and irresponsible parent, and if you are now a responsible person, then there is nothing to prevent you from having another child here or in Florida. Indeed you could, as I mentioned, apply to the court there to reinstate your parental rights or some of them. Be very careful, and be guided by good sense and responsible conduct.
May you have a better life in the future.
Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver.com; or write to All Woman, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5. All responses are published. Mrs Macaulay cannot provide personal responses.DISCLAIMER:The contents of this article are for informational purposes only and must not be relied upon as an alternative to legal advice from your own attorney.
Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver.com; or write to All Woman, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5. All responses are published. Mrs Macaulay cannot provide personal responses.
DISCLAIMER:
The contents of this article are for informational purposes only and must not be relied upon as an alternative to legal advice from your own attorney.
