People in Interest of T.T

In People in Interest of T.T., 845 P.2d 539, 541 (Colo. App. 1992) the Colorado Court of Appeals noted there were a variety of "conviction" definitions in different statutory schemes, but in the termination of parental rights context, it looked to the policies of the applicable statutes and concluded: "It is apparent that the General Assembly intended 'conviction' to mean convicted upon trial. At that time, an accused has had a complete and full opportunity to be heard on the charges against her and a final judgment against her has been entered. "To hold otherwise would be to violate the important policies of the Children's Code which seek to assure a child of some degree of permanency in long-term planning and to assure the child of a stable and secure environment as soon as possible. If a termination proceeding were required to be stayed until a parent's appellate rights are exhausted, a child would have to spend an indeterminate time, perhaps a great portion of his youth, in foster or other temporary care at a time when the child needs stability and bonding in his relationships. Consequently, we find no error in the trial court's having taken judicial notice of the judgments of conviction and sentence length imposed when terminating mother's parental rights."