Opinion ID: 6320243
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Proceedings generally

Text: In April 2019 J.R.S.’s maternal aunt and uncle, Randi and Bradley B., petitioned for sole legal and primary physical custody of J.R.S. They alleged “that [J.R.S.] ha[d] lived with them continuously since July . . . 2018, that the . . . parents’ rights have been suspended by circumstances (specifically due to substance abuse issues), and that the . . . parents had abandoned [J.R.S.]” Dale responded to the petition and requested that he and Samantha be awarded custody. The court held an initial status hearing in May; only Randi, Bradley, and Samantha participated. The court granted Randi and Bradley’s unopposed motion for interim custody of J.R.S. In December Dale attempted to mediate the custody dispute with Randi and Bradley. Dale later testified that the mediation was unsuccessful because he was unwilling to “sign over [his] daughter.” Dale explained that Randi and Bradley had offered to allow visitation with J.R.S. if Dale agreed to grant them custody and to attend substance abuse treatment. Dale acknowledged that he had tested positive for 1 We use initials to protect the child’s privacy. The petition was captioned In the Matter of the Adoption of J.R.B., using the aunt and uncle’s last initial. Because the adoption petition was denied, the child will keep her birth name; we accordingly refer to her as J.R.S. -2- 7585 methamphetamine and heroin in June and that he had not attended substance abuse treatment. In March 2020 Randi and Bradley petitioned to adopt J.R.S. The court ordered that the custody and adoption cases be heard together and bifurcated the trial; the first part took place in December and addressed whether the adoption required the parents’ consents. Randi and Bradley sought to prove that consent was not required because the parents had: (1) failed to communicate meaningfully with J.R.S. without justifiable cause for one year or more; (2) abandoned J.R.S. for six months or more; and (3) failed to provide for J.R.S.’s care and support as required by law or judicial decree without justifiable cause for one year or more.2 The court found that Samantha’s consent to adoption was not required but that Dale’s consent to adoption was required, and it accordingly dismissed the adoption petition. Randi and Bradley appeal, asserting that the superior court erred by finding that Dale’s consent was required. 2. Testimony and superior court findings about whether Dale failed to communicate without justifiable cause or abandoned J.R.S.
Trial testimony indicated that after J.R.S.’s August 2016 birth she lived with Dale and Samantha until about June 2017. Samantha’s mother testified that Samantha and J.R.S. lived with her from June until November 2017. Samantha’s father testified that J.R.S. then lived with him until approximately April 2018. The parties dispute whether Dale had contact with J.R.S. between June 2017 and spring 2018. Dale testified that he had several video chats with J.R.S. between 2 See AS 25.23.050(a)(1)-(2) (enumerating exceptions to requirement for biological parents’ consent to child’s adoption). -3- 7585 June and November, but Samantha’s mother testified that, although Dale and Samantha had been in contact, she could not remember seeing or hearing from Dale while J.R.S. lived with her. Dale testified that in January 2018 he started an oilfield job in North Dakota, working a varying schedule of weeks in the field and returning to Alaska for his time off. Dale testified that in late January or early February 2018 he had visited Samantha and J.R.S. a few times and that they went to a park or shopping, but Samantha’s father testified that he did not see Dale from November 2017 to April 2018. The superior court found that Dale had contact with J.R.S. prior to April 2018.
Samantha was undergoing cancer treatment throughout 2018. Samantha’s mother testified that in April she picked up J.R.S. from Samantha’s father’s home and that she offered to care for J.R.S. until Samantha got better. Randi testified that J.R.S. began living with her and Bradley in July. Testimony reflected that Dale had multiple visits with J.R.S. during the summer and fall of 2018. Samantha’s mother testified that Dale attended a family gathering at a restaurant in May. Samantha’s mother further testified that Dale also attended a family gathering for J.R.S.’s birthday in August. Randi testified that early in the summer J.R.S. lived with Samantha and Dale at Samantha’s father’s home when Dale was in town but that around August they agreed it would be best for J.R.S.’s sleep schedule for her to spend days with Samantha and Dale and return to Randi and Bradley’s home at night. Randi testified that in October and November she twice told Samantha and Dale that future visits with J.R.S. needed to be supervised because of their fighting. Randi also testified that at the end of November she blocked calls from Dale’s number and told Samantha that Dale could coordinate supervised visits with J.R.S. through Samantha’s mother. -4- 7585
Dale testified that he tried contacting Samantha’s mother and Randi multiple times in early 2019 and that neither one responded. Samantha’s mother testified that in March she exchanged texts and phone calls with Dale; he wanted to take J.R.S. to Wasilla to visit his family, but he would not agree to supervision. Randi testified that she unblocked Dale’s calls in March and that she told him she knew he had been trying to contact her. She testified that Dale indicated he wanted to take J.R.S. to Wasilla to visit his family and his brother would be willing to supervise. Randi asserted that she told Dale she wanted to meet his brother, that she tried to arrange a meeting, but that Dale did not follow through and the meeting never happened. Randi testified that in March she went to see Samantha; the superior court found that Dale and Samantha were both living at Samantha’s father’s home at this time. Randi testified that she observed bruising on Samantha and drug paraphernalia in the home. Randi said that shortly after this visit, she made a report to the Office of Children’s Services (OCS).3 Randi and Bradley also filed a petition for legal custody of J.R.S., and in April the court granted them temporary custody of J.R.S. Randi testified that Dale contacted her in April after she made the OCS report and filed the custody petition; he asked to see J.R.S., and Randi told him he would 3 OCS’s mission is to “[e]nsur[e] the safety, permanency and well-being of children by strengthening families, engaging communities, and partnering with Tribes.” Office of Children’s Services: Mission, Vision, Guiding Principles and Values, ALASKA DEP’T OF HEALTH & SOC. SERVS., https://dhss.alaska.gov/ocs/Pages/aboutus/default.aspx (last visited Dec. 16, 2021). An OCS caseworker later testified that: OCS received a report alleging that Dale and Samantha neglected J.R.S.; the caseworker talked to Samantha on the phone once but never talked to Dale; the caseworker never met with either parent; OCS was “not legally involved or setting up visits”; and because the child was in someone else’s temporary custody and there was an open custody case, OCS closed its file. -5- 7585 need to go through OCS to coordinate a visit. Randi further testified that Dale contacted her again in June asking to see J.R.S. and that she again told him he would need to coordinate visits through OCS. Randi also stated that on J.R.S.’s birthday in August, Dale left a message asking her to say happy birthday to J.R.S. Randi testified that was the last time she heard from Dale. Dale testified that he first learned about the custody petition when his mother called him in North Dakota to let him know that Randi and Bradley had been awarded temporary custody. Dale explained that he had not received notice because the paperwork had been sent to Samantha’s father’s address, Dale then was working in North Dakota, and when he was not working he was not living at Samantha’s father’s house. Dale stated that as soon as he got back to Alaska he went to the courthouse and filed an answer. He also testified that he worked overtime for several months to save enough money to hire an attorney. Dale asserted that, despite repeated requests, his attorney refused to file a request for interim visitation and that the attorney advised him not to contact Randi and Bradley directly. The superior court found Dale’s testimony on this issue credible, noting: “Dale . . . followed the advice of his attorney and stopped contacting the maternal relatives in order to facilitate visitation with [J.R.S.]” The superior court found that during 2018 J.R.S. had not lived with either of her parents since spring, that J.R.S. had been in Randi and Bradley’s physical custody since July, and that Dale had not had contact with J.R.S. since November. 3. Evidence and findings about whether Dale failed to support J.R.S. The court found: “[J.R.S.]’s extended maternal family members have been supporting [J.R.S.] her entire life. They have been providing housing, food, diapers, and clothes for [J.R.S.]” Samantha’s father, Samantha’s mother, and Randi all testified that -6- 7585 during the periods when J.R.S. was living with each of them they financially supported her. Randi further testified that Dale never purchased anything “of substance” for J.R.S. In May 2017 Samantha obtained an administrative child support order from the Alaska Department of Revenue, Child Support Services Division (CSSD). The order required Dale to pay Samantha monthly child support starting in June, including arrears from October 2016 through May 2017. CSSD records show that Dale made 20 payments between February 2018 and February 2021. Dale testified that he believed the child support payments were going to Randi and Bradley after J.R.S. began living with them.