In the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of J.P.: J.S. (Father) v. The Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.), 49A02-1605-JT-1029

J.P., born 2009, was removed from his mother in Feb 2014 after DCS received a neglect report; mother later died of an overdose. Father was incarcerated at the time (and had been since Mar 2013) for prior felony convictions.
Father has multiple felony convictions (including sexual misconduct with a minor) and a history of probation/parole violations; an outstanding Illinois warrant related to alleged child endangerment was pending.
Father was released to parole Oct 2014, but a parole condition (which he initialed) barred contact with minors without written approval; he violated that condition, was returned to prison, and was released again Dec 15, 2015 with the same restriction. Parole runs through Mar 2017.
J.P. was placed ultimately with his maternal grandmother in Florida in Oct 2014 and has lived there since; he was described as bonded to the grandmother and having no meaningful bond with Father.
DCS filed to terminate Father’s parental rights June 2015. Father sought a continuance two weeks before the Mar 22, 2016 termination hearing to pursue modification of his parole condition; the juvenile court denied the continuance. The court terminated Father’s parental rights, finding reasonable probability the conditions leading to removal (Father’s incarceration/unavailability) would not be remedied and that termination served J.P.’s best interests.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether denial of continuance was an abuse of discretion	Father: continuance needed to seek Parole Board modification to permit contact with J.P.	DCS: Father delayed and should have sought modification earlier; continuance unnecessary	Denial not an abuse — Father waited too long (knew of restriction since Oct 2014)
Whether evidence was sufficient to show reasonable probability conditions leading to removal will not be remedied	Father: insufficient — termination cannot rest solely on criminal history; argued improvements (employment, classes)	DCS: Father’s long history of incarceration/parole/probation violations and pending warrant make future unavailability likely	Sufficient evidence — Father’s repeated incarcerations and parole violations supported conclusion that unavailability to parent likely to continue; termination affirmed

Rowlett v. Vanderburgh Cty. Office of Family & Children, 841 N.E.2d 615 (Ind. Ct. App. 2006) (standard and abuse-of-discretion factors for continuance in termination proceedings)
In re K.T.K., 989 N.E.2d 1225 (Ind. 2013) (standard of review for termination appeals — do not reweigh evidence)
In re V.A., 51 N.E.3d 1140 (Ind. 2016) (termination requires clear-and-convincing proof; consider only reasons attributable to the parent)
In re I.A., 934 N.E.2d 1127 (Ind. 2010) (conditions leading to removal must be attributed to the parent whose rights are at issue)
In re E.M., 4 N.E.3d 636 (Ind. 2014) (trial courts may weigh historical conduct more heavily than recent improvements when predicting future parenting capacity)
In re A.G., 45 N.E.3d 471 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015) (constructive removal and attribution of removal reasons when parent was incarcerated)
In re A.K., 924 N.E.2d 212 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010) (statutory disjunction in subsection listing alternative grounds for termination)