Where a Juvenile Court judge found a mother unfit to parent the youngest six of her 12 children, the portion of the order denying post termination and post adoption visitation between the mother and her daughter Jane should be vacated along with the judge's order declining to provide a specific sibling visition order.
"...The disruption of Jane's pre-adoptive placement, the lack of an identified potential pre-adoptive family, and the termination of the mother's parental rights 'are precisely the circumstances in which an order for post-termination as well as post adoption contact may be appropriate and warranted.'...'A judicial order for post-termination or post-adoption visitation with a biological parent is for the benefit of the child.' ..For these reasons the judge should reconsider whether a post-termination and post-adoption parental visitation order is in Jane's best interests due to the uncertainty of her current custodial sitatuation: the judge may take additional evidence if necessary.
"The judge should also reconsider the issue o sibling visitation...
"While a 'specific and detailed' order might well have been difficult to fashion a minimum order guaranteeing post-termination and post-adoption contact and visitation may well have been reasonable and practical, provided that the judge found it also to be in the best interests of each of the six children who were the subjects of this proceeding. There is nothing in this record to suggest that an order for post-termination and post-adoption sibling visitation would not be in the best interests of these children...To the contrary, there is strong record support for the closeness of the entire sibling group. Notably, all six children are in favor of a sibling visitation order.
"The portion of the order denying the mother's motion for post-termination and post-adoption visitation with the children is vacated as it relates to visitation between the mother and Jane, and the matter is remanded for further proceedings on this issue consistent with this memorandum and order. The order declining to provide a specific order for sibling visitation or contact is also vacated. On remand the judge should reconsider the issue of sibling visitation, making a specific finding regarding whether sibling visitation is in the best interests of each of the six children and if so, fashion at least a minimum order for sibling contact and visitation. The decrees are otherwise affirmed."
