In re Amias I.

Citations

• 343 Conn. 816

Syllabus

The respondent mother appealed from the judgments of the trial court terminating her parental rights with respect to her minor children, N, M, and D. The petitioner, the Commissioner of Children and Families, filed petitions to terminate the respondent parents' parental rights after the children had been adjudicated neglected, committed to the petition- er's custody, and placed in preadoptive foster homes. The removal of In accordance with the spirit and intent of General Statutes § 46b-142 (b) and Practice Book § 79a-12, the names of the parties involved in this appeal are not disclosed. The records and papers of this case shall be open for inspection only to persons having a proper interest therein and upon order of the Appellate Court. 343 Conn. 816 JULY, 2022 817 In re Amias I. the children from the family home was precipitated in part by the hostile, paranoid, and erratic behavior of the respondent father, who had threat- ened a social worker, refused necessary medical treatment for D and special education services for N and M, and withdrew N and M from school. During the trial on the petitions, the attorney appointed to repre- sent the children indicated that M and D wished to remain with their respective foster parents and that N wished to be reunited with the respondents, but only if they were together as a couple. In terminating the respondents' parental rights with respect to all three children, the trial court found, by clear and convincing evidence, that the Department of Children and Families had made reasonable efforts to reunify the children with the respondents but that the respondents had failed to achieve a sufficient degree of personal rehabilitation. The court also determined that termination of the respondents' parental rights was in the best interest of each child. On appeal from the trial court's judgments, the respondent mother claimed that the children had a constitutional right to conflict free representation and that the trial court had vi