The magistrate had the ability to weigh the conflicting evidence presented by the parties and determine whether the evidence proved that appellee willfully abandoned the child. The magistrate chose to believe appellee's version of the events. We note that when determining credibility, the magistrate had the benefit of seeing and hearing the witnesses testify while this court does not have the benefit of even a transcript to review. Accordingly, appellants' first assignment of error is overruled. Appellants argue in their second assignment of error that the trial court erred when it held that appellee did not willfully abandon the birth mother during her pregnancy and up to the time she surrendered the child to Catholic Social Services.
Appellants claim the trial court's finding was against the manifest weight of the evidence.
The fact that appellee had limited contact with the birth mother because of the actions of the maternal grandmother, supports a finding that any abandonment by appellee was not willful. Additionally, we again note that our review is hampered by the fact that no transcript was filed. Therefore, we defer to the findings of fact of the magistrate and hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in applying the applicable law to the magistrate's findings of fact. Appellants' second assignment of error is overruled. Accordingly, we find that the trial court did not err when it concluded that the child cannot be adopted without appellee's consent.