Opinion
No. 05-1245.
Filed April 18, 2006.
Forsyth County No. 02 J 243.
Appeal by Respondent from order entered 29 March 2005 by Judge Lisa V.L. Menefee in District Court, Forsyth County. Heard in the Court of Appeals 20 March 2006.
Theresa A. Boucher, for Forsyth County Department of Social Services, petitioner-appellee. Womble Carlyle Sandridge Rice, by Murray C. Greason, III; and Stuart L. Teeter, for guardian ad litem. Duncan B. McCormick, for respondent-appellant.
A court may terminate parental rights on the ground that "[t]he parent has willfully left the juvenile in foster care or placement outside the home for more than 12 months without showing to the satisfaction of the court that reasonable progress under the circumstances has been made in correcting those conditions which led to the removal of the juvenile." N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7B-1111(a)(2) (2005). As the findings of fact support the trial court's conclusion of law that Respondent willfully left the child in foster care for twelve months without making reasonable progress, we affirm the trial court's order.
On 17 July 2002, the Forsyth County Department of Social Services filed a petition to terminate the parental rights of Respondent.