When two parents litigate as to who should have custody and visitation of the children, the court will render a decision based on its determination of what is in the “best interest of the child.”  For example, a court recently gave the mother full physical custody of a child and denied the father immediate visitation because he had verbally abused the child, causing her to be afraid of him.  This is quite different, however, from terminating a parent’s legal parental rights to a child.  In those cases, it is the state that petitions against the parent and the court must look beyond the best interest of the child.  The state will only prevail in extreme circumstances, for example, where parent’s continued illegal drug use, serious mental illness and past acts of child sexual abuse made it clear to the court that she could not care for the child.  Parents must be giving proper notice of any scheduled termination hearing.  When dealing with such crucial issues, it is important to have a qualified attorney handle your case.