Termination of Parental Rights and Adoption (forms included)

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  • Children and the Law
  • Family Law
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Published by: State Bar of Wisconsin PINNACLE
ISBN: 978-1-57862-707-3 348+ pp.; 4th ed. 2024 (includes 2026-27 supplement) includes forms
Termination of Parental Rights and Adoption (forms included)

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TPR and the placement of children for adoption requires experience, meticulous attention to detail, and compassion on the part of all professionals involved. It also requires asking the right questions so feelings are protected and rights are made clear. Termination of Parental Rights and Adoption has all the tools to make you successful and ease your clients through this emotional process

The 2026-2027 supplement includes a number of changes such as

  • The Wisconsin Legislature’s amendment of the safe-haven law, expanding the time in which a parent can relinquish a newborn child
  • New discussions of a 2026 Wisconsin Supreme Court opinion that addressed whether a particular burden of proof applies in the disposition phase of a termination-of-parental-rights case
  • A new note, adding guidance from a 2025 Wisconsin Court of Appeals opinion about verdict forms required in termination-of-parental-rights cases based on abandonment when there are multiple possible abandonment periods
  • Updated references to standard court forms for use in termination-of-parental-rights cases, reflecting changes by the Records Management Committee

The 2024-2025 revision includes a number of changes such as

  • New discussions of Wisconsin Supreme Court opinions in 2024 decided on review from termination-of-parental-rights dispositions involving, in one case, a parent’s failure to appear as ordered and, in another case, a no-contest plea
  • Incorporation of legislative amendments that created a new out-of-home care placement option with a person who is “like-kin”
  • Citations to Wisconsin Court of Appeals opinions issued in 2023, including one that addressed whether a parent’s conviction for neglect of a child resulting in death as a party to the crime qualified as a serious felony, establishing a ground for terminating that parent’s parental rights

  • Introduction
  • Practice and Procedure
  • General Information and Ascertainment of Paternity
  • Nonappearing Birth Parent's TPR
  • Independent Adoptive Placement
  • Appearing Birth Parent's Consent to TPR
  • TPR Checklist for the Court, Counsel, and Agency Worker

Helpful Appendices

  • Statutorily Presumed Conceptive Periods
  • Indian Child Welfare Act and Wisconsin Indian Child Welfare Act
  • Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
  • Birth Mother's Statement of Rights, Responsibilities, and Options, and Voluntary Consent to Termination of Parental Rights
  • Birth Father's Statement of Rights, Responsibilities, and Options, and Voluntary Consent to Termination of Parental Rights
  • T.M.F. v. Children’s Serv. Soc’y of Wis. (In the Interest of D.L.S.)

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