In re E.L.E., 243 N.C. App. 301 (2015)

A mother’s termination of parental rights cannot be based on G.S. 7B-1111(a)(3) [for a continuous period of six months before the filing of the TPR petition, a parent has willfully failed to pay a reasonable portion of the cost of a child’s care when the child has been placed in the custody of a county department, licensed child caring institution, or foster home] when the child is in the custody of relatives pursuant to a civil custody order. Although the child was initially placed in the petitioner’s home as part of an abuse, neglect, and dependency case, seven months before the TPR petition was filed, the juvenile court terminated its jurisdiction after entering a civil custody order that granted custody to the petitioners. The petitioners, who are the child’s great aunt and uncle, are not a foster home as defined by G.S. 131D-10.2. Because they had legal custody of the child, the definition of foster home that requires the child’s placement in the home by a child placing agency was not met. Because they are related to the child by blood, the petitioners do not meet the other criteria of a foster home, which is to provide full-time foster care for two or more children who are unrelated to the adult members of the household.