Opinion ID: 1171964
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Was L.M.S. a child in need of aid?

Text: A child who has been physically abandoned by one parent after the other parent has voluntarily relinquished his or her parental rights is a child in need of aid. AS 47.10.010(a)(2)(A)(iii). [3] To determine whether a child has been physically abandoned, we have developed a two-prong test: (1) whether the parent's conduct evidenced a disregard for his or her parental obligations, and (2) whether that disregard led to the destruction of the parent-child relationship. Nada A. v. State, 660 P.2d 436, 439 (Alaska 1983); see also D.M. v. State, 515 P.2d 1234, 1237 (Alaska 1973). The first prong of the abandonment test focuses on the objective conduct of the parents in discharging their parental responsibility. Thus, abandonment is not determined by the parent's subjective intent or on the parent's wishful thoughts and hopes for the child. D.M., 515 P.2d at 1237. Parental duty has been described as an affirmative duty ... [which] requires [a] continuing interest in the child and a genuine effort to maintain communication and association with the child. In re Burns, 379 A.2d 535, 540 (Pa. 1977) (citations omitted). Thus, a parent has the duty to make reasonable efforts to locate and communicate with his or her child. Token efforts by a parent to communicate with his or her child are insufficient to satisfy this parental duty. See Adoption of McKinstray, 628 P.2d 1286, 1287 (Utah 1981). The record shows that E.J.S. did not make reasonable efforts to locate and communicate with his daughter. E.J.S. claims that he did not know where L.B. and L.M.S. resided at any time after they left him in 1979 and that he continually tried to locate L.M.S. by contacting L.M.S.'s maternal grandparents and maternal great grandmother and other friends of L.M.S. However, both L.M.S.'s maternal grandfather and maternal great grandmother testified that E.J.S. never contacted them. Furthermore, the record shows little or no effort to locate L.M.S. in the years 1984 to 1987. Although E.J.S. testified that he called directory assistance in Anchorage to get L.B.'s phone number, E.J.S. never contacted the State Division of Family and Youth Services, the Alaska State Troopers, the Alaska Police Department or the Alaska Child Support Enforcement Division despite knowing in 1984 that L.B. lived in Anchorage. Nor did E.J.S. ever come to Anchorage to try to find L.M.S. As for the second prong of the abandonment test, we must determine whether E.J.S.'s conscious disregard of his parental responsibilities led to the destruction of the parent-child relationship. First, the parent-child relationship between E.J.S. and L.M.S. was destroyed. L.M.S. considered her stepfather, J.M., to be her natural father. When she discovered that J.M. was not her real father, L.M.S. never asked about the details of her real father. Dr. Elinor Weeks, the child psychiatrist treating L.M.S., testified that no psychological bond or familial relationship existed between E.J.S. and L.M.S. Dr. Weeks further testified that a relationship between E.J.S. and L.M.S. probably could not be established until L.M.S. is at least 18 years old. Additionally, Linda Gonzales, the social worker handling L.M.S.'s case for the State, testified that she did not believe any bond existed between L.M.S. and E.J.S. Second, the evidence shows that the lack of a parent-child relationship was engendered by E.J.S.'s conscious disregard of his responsibilities. When asked her opinion on why L.M.S. and her natural father had no such bond between them, Dr. Weeks flatly stated: Because she's had no exposure to her natural father. After reviewing the record, we are not left with the firm conviction that the superior court erred in concluding that, having been abandoned by her natural father, L.M.S. is a child in need of aid under AS 47.10.010(a)(2)(A).