Case Name: Thomas A. STEFANOS, et ux., Petitioners, v. Nelson RIVERA-BERRIOS, Respondent
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1996-02-15
Citations: 673 So. 2d 12
Docket Number: No. 85248
Parties: Thomas A. STEFANOS, et ux., Petitioners, v. Nelson RIVERA-BERRIOS, Respondent.
Judges: OVERTON and WELLS, JJ„ concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 673
Pages: 12–17

Head Matter:
Thomas A. STEFANOS, et ux., Petitioners, v. Nelson RIVERA-BERRIOS, Respondent.
No. 85248.
Supreme Court of Florida.
Feb. 15, 1996.
Rehearing Denied April 25, 1996.
Heidi M. Tauseher of Heidi M. Tauscher, P.A., Orlando, for Petitioners.
Barry Apfelbaum of Barry Apfelbaum, P.A., Orlando, for Respondent.

Opinion:
GRIMES, Chief Justice.
We have for review Rivera-Berrios v. Stefanos, 649 So.2d 881 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994), which certified the following question to be one of great public importance:
MAY ONE WHO HAS HAD HIS PARENTAL RIGHTS TERMINATED THEREAFTER INTERVENE IN AN ONGOING ADOPTION PROCEEDING AND CONTEST FOR THE ADOPTION OF HIS CHILD?
Id. at 882. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. We answer the question in the negative.
Nelson Rivera-Berrios (Rivera) had his parental rights terminated in the juvenile division of the circuit court (juvenile court) because of neglect and abandonment. Thereafter, Thomas and Brigitte Stefanos filed a petition in circuit court to adopt the child. Rivera filed a motion to intervene in the adoption proceeding and filed an objection to the Stefanoses' petition. Because he had also filed a motion in the juvenile court to vacate the final judgment terminating his parental rights, the circuit court stayed the adoption proceedings pending final disposition of Rivera's motion. The juvenile court denied Rivera's motion to vacate the final judgment. In a per curiam decision without opinion, the Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed the juvenile court's order denying the motion.
Rivera next filed a supplemental motion to intervene and assert a cross-claim for adoption. This motion was denied under the doctrines of res judicata, collateral estoppel, and estoppel by judgment. On appeal, the district court of appeal reversed and remanded, holding that one whose parental rights have been terminated may thereafter contest for the adoption of his or her child. The court held that res judicata did not apply because a termination proceeding is a different cause of action from an adoption proceeding. The court further held that estoppel by judgment (or collateral estoppel) also was not available because the previous action had not determined Rivera's present fitness to adopt.
At the outset, we note that an order of termination of parental rights permanently deprives the parents or legal guardian of any right to the child. § 39.469(2)(b), Fla.Stat. (1991). Any rights the natural parent may have had to the child are permanently forfeited and cannot be reopened by means other than a proper appeal. The order denying Rivera's motion to vacate the judgment of termination of his parental rights was affirmed on appeal by the district court and we must accept that court's decision. Rivera-Berrios v. Adoption Centre, Inc., 617 So.2d 1067 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993), review dismissed, 623 So.2d 494 (Fla.1993).
Despite the permanency of a termination order, a parent whose parental rights have been terminated is not precluded from establishing new rights to his or her child through independent adoption proceedings. Section 63.042(2)(b), Florida Statutes (Supp. 1992) allows an unmarried adult to adopt, including the birth parent of the person to be adopted. See, e.g., In re T.G.T., 433 So.2d 11 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983) (permitting mother of child who was permanently committed in a dependency proceeding to petition for adoption of her child upon rehabilitation); Green v. State Dep't of Health & Rehabilitative Servs., 412 So.2d 413 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982) (holding that termination of the natural parents' rights by commitment proceedings does not foreclose their right to seek adoption pursuant to chapter 63, Florida Statutes (1979)). However, the ability of a parent to petition for the adoption of his or her child after termination of parental rights is a different issue from that of the parent's ability to intervene in an ongoing third-party adoption proceeding.
Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.260 provides that anyone claiming an interest in pending litigation may be permitted to assert a right by intervention. Generally, the interest which entitles a person to intervene must be shown to be in the matter in litigation. The interest must be direct and immediate and the intervenor must show that he or she will gain or lose by the direct legal operation and effect of the judgment. A showing of indirect, inconsequential or contingent interest is wholly inadequate. Faircloth v. Mr. Boston Distiller Corp., 245 So.2d 240, 244 (Fla.1970).
In In re Adoption of a Minor Child, 593 So.2d 185 (Fla.1991), we concluded that a child's natural grandparents were entitled to intervene in the child's adoption proceedings as legally interested parties. We determined that the grandparents had acquired a legal interest in maintaining a relationship with their grandchild based upon a New Jersey custody order issued earlier that year granting them visitation rights. Intervention in the adoption proceeding allowed them to pro tect these rights which might have been terminated by the adoption order.
Contrasted with In re Adoption of a Minor Child is the case before us. As one whose parental rights have been terminated through judicial proceedings, Rivera has no direct interest which may be affected by the adoption proceedings because his parental rights no longer exist. He stands as a stranger to the proceedings, and the fact that he is the child's biological father is now legally irrelevant. As such, he has no standing to intervene in a third-party adoption proceeding involving the child.
Our holding is consistent with section 63.062(4), Florida Statutes (Supp.1992), which states that if parental rights to a minor have previously been terminated, then only the consent of the licensed child-placing agency handling the adoption is required. Id; see also § 39.47(1), Fla.Stat. (1991); § 63.072(2), Fla.Stat. (1991). Thus, the Legislature has determined that one whose parental rights have been terminated does not have a sufficient interest in the matter to warrant requiring his or her consent for the child's adoption. Likewise, we believe that once parental rights to a child have been terminated, the parent also lacks the legal interest necessary to establish standing to intervene and contest for the adoption of the child.
We answer the certified question in the negative and quash the decision of the district court of appeal.
It is so ordered.
OVERTON and WELLS, JJ" concur.
HARDING, J., concurs with an opinion.
SHAW, J., concurs in part and dissents in part with an opinion.
ANSTEAD, J., dissents with an opinion, in which KOGAN, J., concurs.
. The Stefanoses obtained such consent in this proceeding.