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THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA,
IN THE INTEREST OF D.G., MINOR CHILD,
CONCERNING L.G. AND N.B.F., RESPONDENTS.

[2004 SD 54]

South Dakota Supreme Court
Appeal from the Circuit Court of
The Fifth Judicial Circuit
Brown County , South Dakota

Hon. Jack Von Wald, Judge

LAWRENCE E. LONG
Attorney General
DAVID W. SIEBRASSE
Assistant Attorney General
Pierre, South Dakota
Attorneys for appellee and State of South Dakota.

KELLY MARNETTE
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Attorney for D.G.

CHRISTY GRIFFIN SERR
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Attorney for appellant R.L.

Considered on Briefs April 1, 2004
Opinion Filed 4/21/2004

#22887 PER CURIAM

[¶1.] Father appeals the termination of his parental rights concerning D.G. We affirm.
FACTS AND PROCEDURE

[¶ 2.] When D.G. was ten days old his mother left him with a relative and went to a bar. Mother was arrested for assault and D.G. was taken into protective custody. R.L., D.G.’s natural father, as determined through subsequent paternity testing, was in the state penitentiary. D.G. was placed with a foster home that contained two of his siblings to which mother had previously terminated her parental rights. Those siblings were adopted through foster placement. D.G. is a special needs child who suffers from reactive airway disease, presumptive reflux and recurrent sinusitis, these conditions culminated in severe asthma.
[¶ 3.] Father was incarcerated for first-degree burglary after he broke into a neighbor’s apartment and assaulted him. Father has an extensive criminal record including seventeen prior offenses. Father indicated to the Department of Social Services (DSS) that he was not an enrolled member of any tribe but that he had applied for membership in the Rosebud Sioux Tribe a number of years earlier but had not heard anything. This information was shared with mother. Thereafter, mother voluntarily terminated her parental rights to
D.G. She did so with the hope that D.G. would be adopted by the foster placement family and remain with his siblings. Father subsequently learned that his application to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe had been accepted and he was an enrolled member. Father moved to transfer the proceedings to tribal court and mother
objected. The trial court determined that because mother had voluntarily terminated her parental rights she had no standing to challenge the transfer motion.
[¶ 4.] Mother then moved for relief from the order terminating her parental rights under SDCL 15-6-60(b) alleging mistake or misrepresentation in her prior termination proceeding. The trial court granted mother

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