## Facts

- The State of Michigan filed a child-protective petition seeking termination of Fowler’s parental rights, alleging inadequate housing, inadequate income, and marijuana use.
- While the case was pending, Fowler obtained employment and suitable housing, resolving the housing and income concerns before the termination hearing.
- At the time of the termination hearing, Fowler’s marijuana use was the only alleged statutory condition that still existed.
- Fowler had a valid Michigan medical-marijuana card authorizing him to use marijuana under Michigan law.
- At the hearing, the State’s witnesses asserted that Fowler’s marijuana use posed a risk to the child because (1) marijuana’s effects were “unknown,” (2) marijuana use was generally illegal, and (3) “unsavory” people were involved in drug dealing.
- The trial court terminated Fowler’s parental rights but did not make a specific finding that Fowler’s marijuana use created an unreasonable danger or concrete risk of harm to the child.
- Fowler appealed to the Michigan Court of Appeals.

## Issues

1. Whether a trial court may terminate parental rights based solely on a parent’s lawful medical-marijuana use when the other alleged conditions have been remedied.
2. Whether generalized testimony about marijuana, without child-specific evidence and a finding of unreasonable danger, can satisfy the clear-and-convincing-evidence standard for termination.

## Decision

- The Michigan Court of Appeals reversed the termination order and remanded for further proceedings.
- The court held that the record did not support termination where Fowler’s marijuana use was lawful under a medical-marijuana card and the trial court failed to make the required, specific finding that the use posed an unreasonable danger to the child.
- The court concluded that generalized concerns about marijuana’s illegality, unknown effects, or association with drug dealers did not establish the necessary connection between Fowler’s lawful use and actual risk to the child.

## Legal Principles

- Termination of parental rights requires proof of at least one statutory ground by clear and convincing evidence.
- Michigan’s medical-marijuana law protects a registered patient from adverse custody consequences based solely on lawful medical use; a court must determine, based on evidence, that the parent’s conduct creates an unreasonable danger to the child.
- Courts must make specific, record-supported findings linking the parent’s conduct to a child-specific risk; generalized assumptions about a substance are not enough to prove parental unfitness.

## Conclusion

The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded because the State’s housing and income concerns had been resolved, leaving only Fowler’s lawful medical marijuana use, and the trial court terminated parental rights without making an evidence-based, child-specific finding that the use created an unreasonable danger to the child.


In re T.L. Fowler, Minor, 2016 WL 6106486 (2016)