Termination of Parental Rights on the Grounds of Intellectual/Developmental Disability: An Overlooked Policy and Health Issue

Abstract

In the United States, 37 states and 4 territories allow for the termination of parental rights (TPR) due to parental disability. Twenty-eight of these states and all four of the territories specifically include parental intellectual developmental disability (IDD). Policies that call for the TPR based on factors outside of parental abuse or neglect have myriad negative effects on individuals, families and communities, including long-term adverse health outcomes for children who have been removed from parental custody, delays in prenatal care for pregnant people whose stigmatized identities may result in involuntary TPR and an increased burden on already overtaxed child welfare systems. This paper analyses policies and proposes an alternative policy modelled after advocacy from other groups of parents with marginalized identities.