Adoption of Malik, 997 N.E.2d 440

Malik sustained serious injuries as an infant while in the care of his birth mother, leading the Department of Children and Families to file care-and-protection proceedings under G. L. c. 119, § 24.
The birth parents stipulated to unfitness and to termination of parental rights; decrees terminating their rights were entered.
The care-and-protection matter was consolidated with a guardianship petition by Malik’s maternal grandparents, and a permanency hearing was held.
The Juvenile Court found the department’s adoption plan (by the foster family) to be Malik’s best interests.
The mother appealed arguing the court erred; the appellate issue concerns standing after termination and the effect of the stipulation.
The mother had waived rights to appeal in the termination decree, and the child supported the department’s adoption plan at the appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether a terminated parent may appeal after a decree of termination	Mother asserts standing to appeal due to best-interests evaluation requirements	Deletion of rights after termination deprives standing; waiver and statutes preclude appeal	Appeal dismissed for lack of standing
Whether termination decree entered before evaluating competing adoption plans was error	Mother claims error in terminating before best-interests analysis	Decree valid given stipulation and waivers; competing plans considered later	Decree upheld; no error in sequencing or standing to raise challenge
Whether a terminated parent may participate in hearings on adoption without right to challenge the order	Mother allowed to participate discretionarily; not a right to appeal	Participation is discretionary and does not grant appeal rights	Participation allowed but no right to appeal an adoption order

Adoption of Dora, 52 Mass. App. Ct. 472 (2001) (mandatory consideration of competing adoption plans; timing of decree)
Adoption of Donald, 52 Mass. App. Ct. 901 (2001) (terminated parent has no right to participate in permanency hearings or appeal after termination)
Adoption of Nate, 69 Mass. App. Ct. 371 (2007) (post-termination participation limitations; no standing to appeal)
Adoption of Gillian, 63 Mass. App. Ct. 398 (2005) (standing limitations after termination for adoption proceedings)
Adoption of Scott, 59 Mass. App. Ct. 274 (2003) (parent whose rights terminated lacks standing to seek adoption remedies)
Adoption of Nancy, 443 Mass. 512 (2005) (decree terminating parental rights may enter without identified adoptive resource)