IN RE MICHAEL S.

Syllabus

In this case involving termination of a mother's parental rights to her child, the trial courtdetermined that clear and convincing evidence supported two grounds for termination:abandonment by failure to visit and abandonment by failure to financially support thechild. The trial court also found that termination was in the child's best interest. Themother has appealed. After thorough review, we affirm the trial court's determinationrelative to the ground of abandonment by failure to support. However, the evidence didnot support a finding of abandonment by failure to visit, and we reverse the trial court'sdetermination as to that ground. We vacate, for insufficient findings of fact andconclusions of law, the trial court's conclusion that termination was in the child's bestinterest and remand this case to the trial court with instructions to conduct a thoroughanalysis of the best interest factors found in Tennessee Code Annotated § 36-1-113(i).