Opinion ID: 2174046
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Visit or Support

Text: The juvenile court did not explicitly decide the question of termination, but held that the evidence did not support Mr. and Mrs. Y.'s arguments that Mr. P. willfully failed to visit or support the child. The evidence does not preponderate against the trial court's determination. The evidence shows that Mrs. Y. actively concealed T.K.Y.'s true parentage for over a year and a half, and that Mr. P. acquiesced in her requests that T.K.Y.'s true parentage be kept secret. Mr. P. testified that he offered to provide support to T.K.Y. but that his offer was declined due to Mrs. Y.'s desire to keep the affair secret. As the juvenile court noted, Mr. P. began actively pursuing his rights in July 1999. He filed a petition to establish parentage, custody, visitation, and to set child support on August 23, 1999. However, he was prevented from seeing T.K.Y. for over four years. On October 14, 1999, seven weeks after Mr. P. filed his parentage petition, Mr. and Mrs. Y. filed a petition for a restraining order prohibiting any contact between Mr. P. and the Y. family. Mr. P. voluntarily complied with Mr. and Mrs. Y.'s wishes until October of 2000, when he attempted to send a gift on T.K.Y.'s birthday. Shortly thereafter, the Y.'s renewed their request for a restraining order, and in December 2000 the parties entered into a mutual agreed restraining order restricting Mr. P. from all contact with T.K.Y. Mr. P. remained subject to this restraining order from December 2000 until March 2002, when the juvenile court terminated Mr. P.'s parental rights. The termination was in effect until the first Court of Appeals decision in September 2003. Thereafter, Mr. P. only had the opportunity to reestablish visitation and a relationship with T.K.Y. until the second Court of Appeals decision in February 2005. In sum, we affirm the juvenile court's determination that the evidence did not support Mr. and Mrs. Y.'s arguments that Mr. P. willfully failed to visit or support the child.