Forces beyond a parent's control that prevent them from visiting must be a "'significant restraint of or interference with' the parent's efforts to visit." In re Maddox G., No. W2018-01115-COA-R3-PT, 2019 WL 927062, at *6 (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 25, 2019) (quoting In re Ella M.I., No. M2013-01543-COA-R3-PT, 2014 WL 1778275, at *3 (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 30, 2014)). Regardless of the circumstances, a parent whose rights are subject to termination must make every reasonable effort to visit his or her child. Id.
Willful unemployment can be construed as a willful failure to support. In re Francis R. , No. M2018-00613-COA-R3-PT, 2018 WL 5307887, at *6 (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 25, 2018) (citing In re Austin D. , No. E2012-00579-COA-R3-PT, 2013 WL 357605, at *11–12 (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 30, 2013) ), perm. app. denied (Tenn. Dec. 13, 2018); see also, e.g. , In re Laura F. , 2019 WL 1896560, at *7 (finding willful unemployment where the mother told her sister that "she did not want to work because she did not want to pay child support"); In re Maddox G. , No. W2018-01115-COA-R3-PT, 2019 WL 927062, at *5 (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 25, 2019) (finding it was not enough for the petitioners "to simply assert that Father was unemployed during the relevant four-month period and assume that he was capable of working and paying child support"); In re Keri C. , 384 S.W.3d at 747 (finding clear and convincing evidence of willful failure to support when the mother was employed for part of the relevant four-month period and could have paid some support but paid none). Mother and Stepfather had the burden of proving willful failure to support by clear and convincing evidence.
Under the definition of abandonment applicable to this case, the burden was squarely on the party seeking termination to establish by clear and convincing evidence that the parent who failed to support "had the capacity to pay, made no attempt to do so, and had no justifiable excuse for not doing so." In re Maddox G., No. W2018-01115-COA-R3-PT, 2019 WL 927062, at *5 n.5 (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 25, 2019). Furthermore, "'[i]n determining a parent's capacity to pay support, it is not enough for a petitioner to simply prove that [the parent] was not disabled during the relevant timeframe and therefore assume that he or she was capable of working and providing support."