Texas Supreme Court hears whether DFPS ‘abandoned’ bid to terminate mother’s parental rights

The Supreme Court of Texas heard argument in case number 240840D over whether the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services abandoned its cause of action to terminate a respondent mother’s parental rights after a DFPS caseworker testified at trial that the department was not seeking termination.

At the hearing, Mister Rowans, counsel for the petitioner, told the court: “The issue this morning in this case is whether or not the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services abandoned its cause of action to terminate respondent mother's parental rights.” Rowans argued that the department’s designated representative testified it was not seeking termination and that courts of appeals have treated similar testimony as abandonment in multiple recent decisions.

The question matters because abandonment can remove the legal basis for a termination judgment even when termination appears in the department’s written pleadings. Rowans asked…