There is a difference between parental rights and parental obligations. As a parent, a person has a right to see their child and have visitation with their child. Also as a parent, a person has an obligation to support their child. Often in custody agreements, child support and visitation is laid out for the parties so that they know their rights and obligations; however, many people do not understand that these are separate issues.

Just because one parent fails to pay child support does not mean the other can keep the child from that parent. On the other hand, if one parent withholds visitation from the other parent that does not mean the other parent gets to skip that month's child support payment. If these issues cannot be resolved between the parties, then legal action might be necessary to work out the problems.

A petition can be filed to terminate a person's parental rights. These are often called TPRs and can be voluntary or involuntary. A person can voluntarily sign papers to terminate parental rights. There is also a statute that lays out how to terminate the parental rights of someone who will not voluntarily sign their rights away. There are multiple factors that go into an involuntary TPR, including (but not limited to) abandoning the child or not paying child support for an extended period of time.

This situation often comes up when a stepparent wishes to legally adopt a minor. If a stepfather wishes to legally adopt a child, that child's legal father's rights must first be terminated. In order to terminate a person's parental rights, you must be able to prove the factors defined in the statute. If a legal parent is attempting to support a child and attempting to see that child as much as possible it is extremely difficult to terminate that person's parental rights to that minor child unless there are serious aggravating circumstances.

TPRs refer to the rights of legal parents. If a couple was not married when the minor child was born, then the father must legally be determined to be that child's father. This is often done when a petition is filed in child support court. It can also be accomplished by filing a paternity petition.

The Alabama Child Protection Act governs the termination of parental rights but does not address a parent's obligation to pay child support after termination. It is not spelled out that termination of rights also terminates the obligation to pay child support. A TPR does away with a parent's right to custody and affiliation with a child; however, depending on the situation, a person may be obligated to continue to make child support payments even if his or her parental rights have been terminated.