## Facts

- The mother experienced extreme abuse as a child, including being sold at age seven to adoptive parents who sexually abused her; she became pregnant by her adoptive father at 13, and that child was adopted.
- At age 18, the mother was raped, gave birth, and the baby died the next day.
- The mother later had four children with the biological father, but left him due to violence, drug problems, and schizophrenia.
- The mother began living with the children’s stepfather, who had been molested as a child and had been imprisoned for sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl.
- The Department of Social Services (DSS) received referrals indicating the stepfather was sexually abusing the mother’s two oldest daughters; there was also a substantiated report that the girls had been abused by someone not living in the home.
- Even with these warning signs, the mother allowed the two girls to go on a three-day trip with a man the mother knew had sexually abused the children of one of her friends.
- The mother told a friend that the stepfather had sexually abused the mother’s oldest daughter; the friend reported this disclosure to authorities.
- In interviews, both girls confirmed sexual abuse by the stepfather and described threats (including threats to kill them or that he would go back to jail) meant to keep them from reporting the abuse.
- The friend also heard the mother instruct the older daughter not to disclose the abuse.
- DSS created family service agreements for the mother and stepfather and arranged evaluations.
- A psychological evaluation concluded the stepfather posed a threat and that the girls would be at grave risk in any home with him because the mother would not protect them.
- The mother returned to the stepfather and had another child with him.
- The circuit court found the girls were abused or neglected and terminated the mother’s parental rights to the two older daughters; the mother appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the circuit court clearly erred in adjudicating the two girls as abused or neglected where the mother argued there was no “physical abuse or neglect” attributable to her and she was not the direct abuser.
2. Whether clear and convincing evidence supported termination of the mother’s parental rights based on her repeated exposure of the children to known sexual offenders, her failure to protect after abuse was suspected and confirmed, and the resulting risk of future harm.
3. Whether termination, rather than a less restrictive disposition, was in the children’s best interests under South Dakota law.

## Decision

- The South Dakota Supreme Court affirmed.
- The Court held the abused/neglected adjudication was not clearly erroneous.
- The Court held clear and convincing evidence supported termination of the mother’s parental rights.
- The Court rejected the mother’s argument that termination was improper because she did not personally commit the sexual abuse and because she characterized the case as lacking “physical abuse or neglect.”

## Legal Principles

- Termination of parental rights requires proof by clear and convincing evidence.
- “Clear and convincing” evidence is evidence that is direct, weighty, and convincing enough to leave no serious or substantial doubt about the correctness of the conclusion.
- A child may be adjudicated abused or neglected based on a parent’s failure to protect the child from known dangers, including sexual abuse by another person in or around the home.
- A parent’s choices that expose children to known sex offenders, and conduct that discourages reporting or conceals abuse, may show inability or unwillingness to provide safe care and may justify termination.
- In reviewing abuse/neglect and termination findings, the Supreme Court defers to the circuit court’s credibility determinations and will not set aside factual findings unless clearly erroneous.
- The child’s safety and best interests control disposition; the court may terminate parental rights when no less restrictive alternative will adequately protect the child.

## Conclusion

In re T.G. affirmed termination of a mother’s parental rights where the record showed she repeatedly exposed her daughters to known sexual offenders, failed to protect them even after abuse was reported and confirmed, and remained with the stepfather despite professional conclusions that the girls would face grave risk in that home; the Supreme Court held the abuse/neglect adjudication and termination were supported by clear and convincing evidence and consistent with the children’s best interests.


In re T.G., 578 N.W.2d 921 (1998)