Challenges To A Father’s Right To Custody

Terry Legal Group, LLC served as appellate counsel before the Indiana Court of Appeals and the Indiana Supreme Court for a father whose infant child was adopted without his consent or a full hearing. The trial court had dismissed father from the case as a discovery sanction after it found that the father had not provided complete records regarding his mental health counselling. CTG argued, and both appellate courts unanimously agreed, that the Indiana Mental Health Records statute does not permit unlimited disclosure of father’s counseling records and that father was entitled to have his day in court. This case will return to the trial court for a determination of father’s fitness to be a parent and whether the adoption is in the child’s best interest. L.G. v. S.L., 76 N.E.3d 157, 2017 Ind. App. LEXIS 192; L.G. v. S.L., 2018 Ind. LEXIS 29.