494 So. 2d 428 | Ala. Civ. App. | 1986
This is a parental rights termination case where only the father has appealed. He presents four issues through his most able appellate counsel.
After a petition was filed which alleged that the father's one-day-old child was dependent, the trial court entered an ex parte order that the baby be taken into immediate custody. Because of the presentation of a sworn statement which placed in serious question the ability of both parents to provide care to the child, and since a decision as to the child's immediate safety had to be made before the baby would be released from the hospital, there was no error in that order. § 12-15-53 (d), Code 1975.
A hearing was held as to dependency within seventy-two hours of the baby's ex parte placement with the Jackson County Department of Pensions and Security (DPS). The sheriff's return upon the summons certifies that copies of the petition were served upon both of the parents. At the commencement of the hearing the juvenile court announced or explained that it was to be a child detention hearing on a petition which alleged dependency. The trial court had previously appointed an attorney to represent both parents. The father declined that representation and, since he wished to represent himself, the trial court permitted him to do so. The attorney represented the mother as her guardian ad *430
litem at that hearing. We find that the trial court substantially complied with section 12-15-60 (c), Code 1975, but even if the explanation as to the contents of the petition is considered to be inadequate, no such defect was ever presented to the trial court. It was never ruled upon by the juvenile court but has been presented here on appeal for the first time. Consequently, there is nothing for our review.Centers v. Jackson County Department of Pensions Security,
The father also contends that the trial court erred in not providing appointed counsel for the mother at the dispositional hearing. The mother had appointed counsel at the dependency hearing but, just before the beginning of the dispositional hearing, she waived further representation by appointed counsel at the urging, insistence, and advice of her husband, the father of the child. The father represented himself and conducted the defense of both parents. Only the father has appealed. The father may not take one position in the trial court upon an issue, gain a favorable ruling thereon, and then raise that ruling as error on appeal. Such action by the father constitutes "invited error." State Farm Mutual AutomobileInsurance Co. v. Humphres,
Last, the father argues that the evidence was not adequate to support either the trial court's findings of dependency or the award of permanent custody to DPS with the termination of his parental rights.
The right to maintain family integrity is a fundamental right. Hamilton v. State,
We have read and studied the helpful briefs of counsel and find that the final judgment of the trial court was supported by clear and convincing evidence that the child was a dependent child, that it was not in the best interests of the child to remain in her parents' custody and that no viable alternative existed other than the termination of the parental rights of the natural parents. The trial court's final judgment was not palpably wrong. No benefit would inure to precedent or to the child or to the natural parents by a summary of the facts. We affirm.
The foregoing opinion was prepared by Retired Circuit Judge EDWARD N. SCRUGGS while serving on active duty status as a judge of this court under the provisions of section
AFFIRMED.
All the judges concur. *431