118
Opinion of the Court
and right to 'the companionship, care, custody, and management of his or her children' is an important interest," one that " 'undeniably warrants deference and, absent a powerful countervailing interest, protection.' " Id., at 27 (quoting Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U. S. 645, 651 (1972)). The object of the proceeding is "not simply to infringe upon [the parent's] interest," the Court recognized, "but to end it"; thus, a decision against the parent "work[s] a unique kind of deprivation." Lassiter, 452 U. S., at 27. For that reason, "[a] parent's interest in the accuracy and justice of the decision . . . is . . . a commanding one." Ibid.; see also id., at 39 (Black-mun, J., dissenting) ("A termination of parental rights is both total and irrevocable. Unlike other custody proceedings, it leaves the parent with no right to visit or communicate with the child . . . ." (footnote omitted)).
Santosky held that a "clear and convincing" proof standard is constitutionally required in parental termination proceedings. 455 U. S., at 769-770.10 In so ruling, the Court again emphasized that a termination decree is "final and irrevocable." Id., at 759 (emphasis in original). "Few forms of state action," the Court said, "are both so severe and so irreversible." Ibid.11 As in Lassiter, the Court characterized the parent's interest as "commanding," indeed,
10 Earlier, in Addington v. Texas, 441 U. S. 418, 431-432 (1979), the Court concluded that the Fourteenth Amendment requires a "clear and convincing" standard of proof in civil commitment proceedings.
11 In Rivera v. Minnich, 483 U. S. 574 (1987), the Court declined to extend Santosky to paternity proceedings. The Court distinguished the State's imposition of the legal obligations attending a biological relationship between parent and child from the State's termination of a fully existing parent-child relationship. See Rivera, 483 U. S., at 579-582. In drawing this distinction, the Court found it enlightening that state legislatures had similarly separated the two proceedings: Most jurisdictions applied a "preponderance of the evidence" standard in paternity cases, while 38 jurisdictions, at the time Santosky was decided, required a higher standard of proof in proceedings to terminate parental rights. See Rivera, 483 U. S., at 578-579 (citing Santosky, 455 U. S., at 749-750).
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