NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Middle Tennessee foster parents who raised a child for eight years before she was returned to her birth father have filed a petition to terminate the parental rights of the father.
David and Kim Hodgin filed the petition to officially adopt 9-year-old Sonya McCaul on June 6.
The Hodgins have been through the process before. A court terminated the rights of John McCaul and allowed the Hodgins to adopt in 2008. But at the same time they were trying to adopt, the state Department of Children's Services was trying to place Sonya with relatives in Nebraska.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals overturned the adoption, and after a protracted legal battle, Sonya was sent to live with her birth father in January. DCS continues to have legal custody of Sonya.