Volume 64 — North Carolina Court of Appeals Reports

1. Parent and Child 1 — termination of parental rights — sufficiency of evidence In a proceeding to terminate parental rights, the findings of fact were amply supported by the evidence and in turn supported the conclusions of law terminating the parental rights where the evidence tended to show that respondents permitted the child to live in filth, failed and refused to obtain necessary medical care for her, both when she had a broken femur and later when she had sores all over her body, and where respondents failed to pay anything toward the cost of the child's foster care during the six months preceding the filing of the petition. 2. Parent and Child 1; Trial 6 — proceeding to terminate parental rights — recordation of hearing — stipulation — failure of recording device In a proceeding to terminate parental rights, a contention that a new trial should be ordered because of the failure of a recording device used at the hearing was without merit where the use of the recording device was stipulated to and where no evidence favorable to respondents that a transcript would have contained was suggested. 3. Parent and Child 1 — termination of parental rights — statutes constitutional G.S. 7A-289.32(2), authorizing the court to terminate parental rights upon a finding that a parent has "neglected" the child, is not unconstitutionally vague. Neither is G.S. 7A-289.32(4), authorizing parental rights to be terminated upon a parent's failure for six months preceding filing of the petition to pay a reasonable portion of the costs of caring for the child, unconstitutional as applied to the minor child's father, in that the statute does not require notice that payment is due, no notice was received by the father, and because the father received public assistance all of his life, he was unaware that anything was expected or required of him, since knowledge of the law is not the test of its application.