Here are the most common statutory grounds for terminating parental rights:
Severe or chronic abuse or neglect;
Abandonment;
Parents’ long-term mental illness, alcoholism or drug dependency;
Abuse, neglect or removal of other children.
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But even in situations where the abuse is real, children who are taken away from their natural parents and placed in foster homes don’t always wind up in a better place.
Former foster child Margaret Iuculano had an alcoholic stepfather who beat her and labeled her “incorrigible,” so pretty much anywhere should have been an improvement. But the five hellish years she spent shuttling to 15 different foster homes were just as bad – and sometimes even worse – than home. “Unfortunately for me, my foster experiences were almost or more abusive than the environment I was removed from,” she told the The Tampa Bay News.
The author of “My God Box,” Iuculano credits her religious faith for finally allowing her to escape the debilitating emotional pain she endured from feeling “unwanted and unloved” as a child, eventually becoming a successful entreprenuer despite – not because of – her time in foster care. Here’s a link to her website: http://www.margaretlano.com/
