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Dane County Department of Human Services v. Lisa B.2/1/2001
other does not want the child to be raised in the majority religion and to place that child in a situation where they are being exposed to and trained in that religion and deprived of the training in his or her own religion."
. While a child is in the temporary custody of a county department under a CHIPS order, a parent who has concerns regarding any aspects of the child's placement or treatment may seek redress from the court. See Wis. Stat. §§ 48.357(2m) and 48.363(1) (parent may request change in placement or other revisions to CHIPS dispositional order). A TPR proceeding, however, by its very nature, seeks to preclude a parent from having any say or oversight in the future religious upbringing of the child to whom rights are terminated, just as it seeks to terminate all other rights a parent may have with respect to his or her children. That is why courts have consistently viewed TPR proceedings as affecting "fundamental rights," and required that certain procedural safeguards and statutory requirements be scrupulously observed. See, e.g., Monroe County v. Jennifer V., 200 Wis. 2d 678, 686-87, 548 N.W.2d 837 (Ct. App. 1996). If Lisa's parental rights were terminated following proceedings that were fair and error-free, she has no viable claim of error based simply on the fact that her future right to direct Glenn's religious upbringing has been terminated. Accordingly, we turn to Lisa's more concrete claims of error, and do not further address the First Amendment issue.
. Lisa next seems to argue that because she did not appeal her felony conviction for physically abusing Glenn, the conviction "should not be used as basis for the TPR." She claims that it was improper for the TPR jury to rely on the previous conviction, especially in the absence of testimony by a physician substantiating the 1994 injury that resulted in the conviction. According to Lisa " ithout a physician's report indicating great physical harm there may be a felony based on a plea agreement, but no appeal and no physician's substantiation of great bodily harm." To the extent that we understand this argument, we reject it.
. Wisconsin Stat. § 48.415(5) provides in relevant part as follows:
(5) Child abuse. Child abuse, which shall be established by proving that the parent has exhibited a pattern of physically or sexually abusive behavior which is a substantial threat to the health of the child who is the subject of the petition and proving either of the following:
(a) That the parent has caused death or injury to a child or children resulting in a felony conviction.
(b) That a child has previously been removed from the parent's home pursuant to a court order under s. 48.345 after an adjudication that the child is in need of protection or services....
During the jury trial, the department introduced certified copies of a criminal complaint and judgment of conviction establishing that in 1995 Lisa was convicted of "physical abuse of a child," a felony. The conviction resulted from an incident in October 1994 when Lisa struck Glenn in the eye with a brush. We are aware of no requirement that a felony conviction be affirmed on appeal in order to be relied upon in proving grounds for TPR under § 48.415(5)(a). In addition, we note that Lisa did not object to the introduction of evidence concerning her felony conviction.
. Lisa also cites as error the fact that she was never warned "that her felony conviction could be held as proof of a pattern of physically abusive behavior." She further claims that it was improper to allege and submit grounds for termination of parental rights that were "substantially different from those about which she wa
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