How Long Must a Parent Be Absent to Lose Rights in Michigan?

In Michigan, a parent can lose their rights on desertion grounds after being absent for 91 or more days without seeking custody of the child. A shorter 28-day period applies when the parent cannot even be identified after reasonable efforts to locate them. Those numbers come from MCL 712A.19b(3), the statute that sets out every ground for termination of parental rights, and they answer the core question of how long a parent must be absent to lose rights in Michigan. But hitting the day count is only the starting point. A court still has to find the ground proven by clear and convincing evidence, and it has to separately decide that ending the relationship is in the child’s best interests.¹

The 91-Day Desertion Rule

The desertion ground under MCL 712A.19b(3) is the provision most directly tied to absence. It has two triggers:

The parent has deserted the child for 91 or more days and has not sought custody during that period.
The parent’s identity is unknown, and 28 or more days have passed while reasonable efforts to identify the parent have failed.

The 91-day clock is not just a calendar count. The statute pairs the time period with the phrase “has not sought custody of the child during that period.” A parent who has been physically away but has made genuine attempts to see the child, provide support, or regain custody is in a different position than one who has cut off all contact. Courts look at whether the parent took steps a reasonable person would take to maintain the parent-child relationship during the 91 days.¹

The 28-day version exists for a different situation: a child whose parent has never been identified. When the state or another petitioner has made reasonable efforts to locate a parent and cannot, the shorter period allows the case to move forward so the child is not left in indefinite legal limbo.

Other Time-Based Paths to Termination

Absence alone is not the only clock that runs against a parent. Two other timelines in Michigan law commonly come into play when a parent has been out of a child’s life, and searchers asking about “how long” a parent can be absent should know they exist.

The 182-Day Failure-To-Rectify Ground

If a child has already been brought into court care, MCL 712A.19b(3) allows termination when 182 or more days have passed since the initial dispositional order and the conditions that caused the child to come into care still exist, with no reasonable likelihood the parent will fix them within a timeframe appropriate for the child’s age.¹ Parents who have been absent from services, treatment, or parenting classes often see this ground alleged alongside or instead of desertion.

The 15-Of-22-Months Foster Care Trigger

Under MCL 712A.19a, when a child has spent 15 of the most recent 22 months in state foster care, the court must order the agency to begin termination proceedings. There are three exceptions: the child is placed with relatives, the case plan documents a compelling reason that filing would not serve the child’s interests, or the state has not provided the services the family needed for the child to safely return home.² The third exception matters for absent parents: the state cannot rely on its own failure to provide reunification services as a basis for pushing a case toward termination.

Mandatory Filings That Do Not Depend on Time

Some situations bypass any waiting period. MCL 722.638 requires the Department of Health and Human Services to file a termination petition when a parent or household member committed particularly serious acts against the child, including abandonment of a young child, criminal sexual conduct involving penetration, battering or torture, causing the loss of an organ or limb, inflicting a life-threatening injury, or murder or attempted murder.³ A mandatory petition is also required when a parent’s rights to a different child were previously terminated through child protective proceedings.

Meeting the Time Period Does Not End Rights on Its Own

A common misunderstanding is that once the 91 days pass, termination happens automatically. It does not. The day count establishes that a statutory ground may be pled. The petitioner still has to prove that ground by clear and convincing evidence, which is a higher standard than the “preponderance of the evidence” used in most civil cases.⁴

Michigan termination cases move through two distinct phases. In the first, the court decides whether the petitioner proved at least one statutory ground. In the second, the court decides whether termination is clearly in the child’s best interests, weighing factors such as the bond between parent and child, the parent’s ability to provide care, the child’s need for stability, the current placement, any history of domestic violence, the parent’s compliance with the service plan, and the likelihood of adoption.² Even after a ground is proven, the court can decline to terminate if the best-interests analysis points the other way.

What an Absent Parent Can Do

If you are the parent facing a desertion or absence-based petition, the first thing to know is that you have the right to an attorney. At the preliminary hearing the court will inform you of that right, and if you cannot afford counsel, the court will appoint an attorney upon request.⁵

Show the court what you did during the alleged absence. Attempts to contact the child, requests for visitation, support payments, letters, or efforts to work with the agency all cut against a finding that you failed to seek custody. Where the petition rests on “failure to rectify conditions,” proof of completed counseling, treatment, or parenting classes speaks directly to the ground.

Push back on what the state did or did not do. Federal law obligates state agencies to make reasonable efforts to keep families together before seeking termination, which includes referrals to treatment, transportation help, parenting support, and home visits.⁶ If MDHHS did not offer adequate services, that is a defense the court is required to take seriously.

There is also a procedural defense worth raising if it fits. In In re Sanders, 495 Mich 394, the Michigan Supreme Court held that a court cannot make dispositional orders affecting an unadjudicated parent’s rights based only on findings against the other parent. Each parent is entitled to a separate adjudication of their own fitness.⁷

The 14-Day Appeal Window

If the court terminates your rights, you have the right to appeal to the Michigan Court of Appeals, but the deadline is short. A claim of appeal must be filed within 14 days of the termination order.² Miss it and you can forfeit your right to appeal entirely. On appeal, the court reviews whether the trial court’s findings on statutory grounds were supported by clear and convincing evidence and whether the best-interests determination was proper, with some deference given to the judge who saw the witnesses.

What Termination Means

Once the order is final, it is permanent. You lose all legal authority over the child’s education, medical care, and living arrangements, and the child becomes legally free for adoption.² One point that catches many parents off guard: termination does not automatically wipe out child support. Future support obligations generally end once another adult adopts the child, but any unpaid support that accumulated before the termination order remains enforceable.

1
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 712A.19b
2
Michigan Courts. Termination of Parental Rights in Michigan – Presentation
3
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Public Act 383 of 1998 – MCL 722.638
4
Michigan Courts. Termination of Parental Rights Hearing
5
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Michigan Child Welfare Law Manual – Chapter 6 Preliminary Proceedings
6
Children’s Bureau. Reasonable Efforts to Preserve or Reunify Families and Achieve Permanency for Children
7
Justia. In re Sanders