Opinion ID: 2640218
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Implicit Determination of Best Interests

Text: The stepfather argues on appeal that when the legislature amended K.S.A. 59-2136(d) in 2006 to include the best interests of the child as a consideration in stepparent adoptions, it intended the best interests to be either an overarching concern or, at a minimum, a concern on equal footing with the court's consideration of whether the nonconsenting parent assumed the parental duties of love and affection and financial support. Placed in the context of our previous discussion, the stepfather is essentially arguing that a court's determination of the best interests of the child may override a nonconsenting parent's fundamental rights even where that parent has assumed his or her parental responsibilities. We disagree with the stepfather's interpretation for two important reasons: First, this interpretation is inconsistent with the plain language of the statute, and second, this interpretation is inconsistent with the legislature's implicit recognition that the best interests of the child are protected in the usual case by protecting the natural parent-child relationship. First, as we have previously indicated, the plain language of the stepparent adoption statute insists that a natural parent's consent  must be given to [a stepparent] adoption unless the parent has failed to assume his or her parental duties. K.S.A.2007 Supp. 59-2136(d). Reading the statute as a whole, it would make little sense for the legislature to require natural parents' consent to a stepparent adoption under these circumstances where a parent has assumed parental duties for the 2 preceding yearsand then, in the same section, to state that even in the case of a parent who has assumed the duties of a parent, adoption may be granted without consent of the natural parent if a court determines that it is in the best interests of the child. The language of the 2006 amendment further illustrates that the legislature did not intend the best interests of the child to be the overarching consideration in all stepparent adoptions. While the stepparent adoption statute has required, since its enactment in 1991, that a natural parent's consent must be given to a stepparent adoption when the natural parent has assumed the duties of a parent, the 2006 amendment provides that [t]he court may consider the best interests of the child and the fitness of the nonconsenting parent in determining whether a stepparent adoption should be granted. (Emphasis added.) K.S.A.2007 Supp. 59-2136(d); L. 2006, ch. 22, sec. 1. Contrary to the stepfather's arguments in this case, the permissive language of the 2006 amendment does not override the statute's mandatory consent. Second, we believe that the legislature even with the 2006 amendmenthas made a determination under law that the best interests of a child subject of a stepparent adoption is served by fostering the natural parent-child relationship where the parent has assumed his or her parental obligations. As this court explained in Williams, the policy of the state proceeds on the theory that [children's] welfare can best be attained by leaving them in the custody of their parents and seeing to it that the parents' right thereto is not infringed upon or denied.' 254 Kan. at 822, 869 P.2d 661 (quoting Kailer, 123 Kan. at 231, 255 P. 41). Thus, the best interests of the child as expressed in the 2006 amendment does not trump the requirement that a natural parent who has assumed his or her parental responsibilities must consent before a stepparent adoption can be granted. We observe that our decision in this case does not extend to the statutory language in the amendment dealing with the fitness of the nonconsenting parent. K.S.A.2007 Supp. 59-2136(d). Unfitness was simply not an issue in this case. As the district court noted in its decision, there was no allegation of unfitness of the natural father. No evidence was presented on this issue upon hearing before the district court, and the stepfather has raised no question of unfitness on appeal. Thus, we do not in this opinion determine what the legislature intended by this phrase, except to acknowledge that the fitness of a nonconsenting parent is a much different question.