Opinion ID: 2067710
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Child's Best Interests

Text: [¶ 14] The statute governing the establishment of paternal rights permits the denial of parental rights to a putative father based solely on a consideration of the child's best interests. 18-A M.R.S. § 9-201(i); [4] see also Adoption of G., 529 A.2d at 812. We review the Probate Court's determination of the child's best interests for an abuse of discretion. See Adoption of G., 529 A.2d at 812. [¶ 15] The court must consider the child's best interests in proceedings to establish paternal rights, and in adoption proceedings. 18-A M.R.S. §§ 9-201(i), 9-308(b) (2008). In considering the child's best interests, the court shall evaluate the following factors in order to provide the child a permanent home at the earliest possible date: (1) The love, affection and other emotional ties existing between the adoptee and the adopting person or persons, the biological parents or biological parent or the putative father; (2) The capacity and disposition of the adopting person or persons, the biological parent or biological parents or the putative father to educate and give the adoptee love, affection and guidance and to meet the needs of the adoptee ....; and (3) The capacity and disposition of the adopting person or persons, the biological parent or biological parents or the putative father to provide the adoptee with food, clothing and other material needs, education, permanence and medical care or other remedial care recognized and permitted in place of medical care under the laws of this State. 18-AM.R.S. § 9-308(b). [¶ 16] There is more than sufficient evidence to support the court's determination that the denial of the father's petition to establish parental rights is in the child's best interest. In determining the child's best interest, the court considered all of the relevant factors, including the strong emotional bond between the child and the adoptive parents, with whom the child has lived since she was four days old. On the other hand, the child has never met the father, and the father has not sought contact with the child or the adoptive parents, despite his having knowledge of the petition for adoption for seven months prior to the hearing. The court also properly considered the father's inability to educate, guide, and meet the child's emotional and financial needs, as a result of his being incarcerated for at least the next eight years. The adoptive parents, on the other hand, demonstrated that they have provided and will continue to provide the child with a healthy and loving environment, and that they are able to meet the child's needs emotionally and financially. Moreover, the adoptive parents, who are in a stable marriage and rooted in their community, will provide a sense of permanency for the child, whereas the father plans to remove the child from the only home she has ever known, place her in his parents' custody, and remove her from his parents' home to live with him upon his release from prison some years down the road. [5] [¶ 17] The court properly denied the father's petition to establish parental rights. The entry is: Judgment affirmed.