The Rhode Island Supreme Court recently ruled that the parental termination
provisions in the Rhode Island adoption laws were not subject to challenge
on constitutional grounds. After his rights were terminated over his children,
a father appealed to the Supreme Court alleging that Rhode Island Supreme
Court precedent violated a parent's due process rights under the 14th
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by requiring the child's best interests
to be considered only after the fitness of the parent is considered.
