In re Riley B.

Syllabus

The respondent mother appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court terminating her parental rights as to her minor child. After the petitioner, the Commissioner of Children and Families, filed the petition to terminate the mother's parental rights, the mother filed a motion to transfer guardianship to a maternal relative in New Jersey. The motion was consolidated for trial with the termination of parental rights petition. The court terminated the mother's parental rights and denied her motion to transfer guardianship. On appeal, the mother claimed that the court deprived her of her right to substantive due process because there was no compelling reason to sever her liberty interest in the integrity of her family while the parties waited to learn whether guardianship of the child could be transferred, which was a less restrictive alternative to the termination of her parental rights. Held that this court declined to review the respondent mother's unpreserved constitutional claim because it failed to satisfy the first prong of State v. Golding (213 Conn. 233), as the record was devoid of any evidence that the maternal relative was amenable to guardianship, the primary factual predicate to the respondent's claim. Argued November 10, 2020—officially released March 31, 2021