Whitmore v. Robinson

Summary

The Court reversed the termination of the father's parental rights because the Family Court materially erred by importing a statutory definition of "necessary care" from Title 10 into the separate failure-to-plan standard governing termination under Title 13. The Court remanded for the Family Court to reconsider the statutory criteria, the sufficiency of the evidence, and the child's best interests without treating the father's post-August 2015 lack of contact as attributable to him. The Court also rejected the claim that the father's appellate issues were waived.