In Re Baby Girl M.

Valerie N. Lankford, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Objector and Appellant.

Law Office of Gradstein & Gorman, Marc Gradstein, Jane A. Gorman, Burlingame and Seth F. Gorman for Petitioners and Respondents.

Andrea R. St. Julian, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, San Diego, for the Minor.

IRION, J.

In this appeal we review a juvenile court judgment terminating the parental rights of Robert W. under Family Code [1] section 7825 (section 7825) as to his biological daughter, Baby Girl M. Section 7825 authorizes the termination of parental rights when a parent has been convicted of a felony the facts of which "are of such a nature so as to prove the unfitness of the parent" to have "future custody and control of the child." ( Id., subd. (a)(2).) In accordance with this statutory language, and the fact that the involuntary termination of parental rights is an extreme measure implicating core constitutional rights, section 7825's reach traditionally has been limited to those situations where a parent commits a heinous felony offense, often against a family member, which in and of itself demonstrates that the parent will be forever unfit to have any measure of…