Opinion ID: 2197540
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: correction of facts

Text: Contrary to the majority's statement of the history of this case, I found no evidence in the record to support the repeated charges of deceit, lies, and subterfuge on the part of the Does and their attorney in connection with the adoption of the child. Kirchner's affirmative defense to the adoption raised the issue of deceit on the part of Daniella, to whom he was married at the time of the adoption hearing on the termination of his paternal rights. He and Daniella testified at that hearing that the two had not sooner married, because he was too busy to arrange a day off that matched her schedule. The baby was born on March 16, 1991, and the Kirchners married in September of that year, at about the time Kirchner filed his petition for declaration of paternity. Kirchner admitted at the hearing that Daniella never told him that the baby died and that he did not believe it when Daniella's uncle said the baby was dead. The Does did not testify, and Daniella never said that the Does or their attorney suggested or assisted in her scheme to hide from the biological father, whom she described to the Does' attorney as abusive and a heavy gambler. Testimony of Daniella reveals that when she met the Does she was staying in a shelter for abused women and had signed a contract with that shelter indicating that she was a victim of abuse. She later moved to her uncle's house in a suburb, and gave the Does' attorney her telephone number and address at that location. She admitted at the hearing that she refused at all times to disclose the identity of the man who fathered her child and there is no indication that she ever gave the Does, their attorney, or the investigator from the Cook County Department of Supportive Services any information to help them locate him. Further, there is nothing in the record to indicate that the Does or their attorney had or were able to obtain information regarding Kirchner's identity or residence. Similarly, there is nothing in the record to establish that the Does or their counsel knew of friends or relatives who might have revealed Kirchner's identity or whereabouts. The record further reveals that while Daniella was discussing the adoption with the Does and their attorney, she was simultaneously calling Kirchner, meeting him at a restaurant, and, two weeks before giving birth, visiting him in his apartment where they engaged in sexual intercourse. The record also indicates that Kirchner had her telephone number at the shelter and was immediately aware of her moving into her uncle's house. The record does not indicate that the Does were aware of Daniella's continued contacts with Kirchner, or the fact that he knew where she was at all relevant times. The record does not support the majority's statement that the Does and their attorney abetted Daniella's scheme to deceive Kirchner. The record does not support the majority's apparent belief that the Does arranged for Daniella to give birth in a suburban hospital, rather than the Chicago hospital near Kirchner's apartment, in order to prevent Kirchner from locating her. At the time she gave birth she was living with her uncle in a suburb, not in Chicago. Moreover, the transcript of the hearing contains an admission by Kirchner that some time after the baby's March 16, 1991, due date, he telephoned her in the hospital. Although he also testified that he called various hospitals and attempted to verify whether the baby had died, by looking through the uncle's garbage cans for diapers, Kirchner admitted that he knew as early as April 1991 that the baby had not died. He did not seek legal counsel at that time, he testified, because [e]verything takes time. Daniella moved back into Kirchner's apartment on May 12, 1991, 57 days after the baby's birth. Although Kirchner was then told of the adoption, he did not immediately seek to intervene in the adoption or seek a declaration of paternity and temporary custody of the child. Instead, on June 6, 1991, approximately 82 days after the baby's birth, an attorney filed an appearance on behalf of Otto Kirchner. The record reveals that the appearance filed on behalf of Kirchner did not identify Kirchner as the putative biological father or the husband of Daniella. Therefore, on that date Kirchner was merely a name to the Does, as far as the court record indicates. Kirchner's appearance was not accompanied by an answer to the adoption petition or other pleading setting forth his claim to be the biological parent of the child. Therefore, there was nothing for the Does and their attorney to respond to, contrary to the majority's statement that as of June 6, 1991, the adoption proceedings were rendered wholly defective    [and] the Does had both a legal and moral duty to surrender Richard to the custody of his father.    Instead, the Does selfishly clung to the custody of Richard. They have prolonged these painful proceedings   . (Emphasis added.) (164 Ill.2d at 474, 208 Ill.Dec. at 271, 649 N.E.2d at 327.) Such statement by the majority is patently unfair and legally inaccurate. The record shows that as of June 6, 1991, the date on which the majority believes that the Does had a legal and moral duty to surrender Richard to the custody of Kirchner, the only document of record was a bare appearance filed by an attorney on behalf of Kirchner. In September 1991, Kirchner filed a petition for declaration of paternity. It was not until several months later, in December 1991, that Kirchner's paternity with respect to the child was ever established by the trial court. At no time did the trial court ever vacate, modify, or reverse its order granting the Does custody of the child. For the Does to turn over custody of the child on June 6, 1991, to Kirchner, who was a total stranger at that time, would have been grossly irresponsible and a violation of the trial court's order appointing them as the child's legal custodians. Again, there was no duty, moral or legal, for the Does to surrender the child to Kirchner. Nothing in the record supports the majority's further statement, After protracted procedural posturing on the part of the Does, a hearing was finally had on Otto's petition to defeat the adoption. (164 Ill.2d at 474, 208 Ill.Dec. at 271, 649 N.E.2d at 327.) I found no indication in the record that the delays in the hearing were attributable to anything other than standard discovery requirements to prepare for the hearing. At no time did Kirchner move to expedite the proceedings. Finally, I am concerned that the majority's opinion places an unprecedented burden on prospective adoptive parents in this State to fully investigate the circumstances of the man who purports to be the biological, unwed partner of the birth mother. The majority reasons that the Adoption Act intentionally place[s] the burden of proof on the adoptive parents    [to make] a good-faith effort to notify the natural father of the adoption proceedings. [Citation.] (164 Ill.2d at 476, 208 Ill.Dec. at 272, 649 N.E.2d at 328, citing 750 ILCS 50/7 (West 1992).) According to the majority, the adoptive parents failed to sustain this burden in the present case, because they knew that a real father existed whose name the birth mother knew, they knew that the father, if contacted, would not consent to the adoption, yet they made no effort to learn the name of the father and to give him notice of the adoption proceedings. 164 Ill.2d at 476, 208 Ill.Dec. at 272, 649 N.E.2d at 328. The majority's imposition of a duty on the part of adoptive parents to investigate the identity and residence of a putative biological father is unsupported in Illinois law. The provision of the Adoption Act cited by the majority (750 ILCS 50/7 (West 1992)) places no duty on adoptive parents to discover the identity and residence of a biological father to a child born out of wedlock. The majority cites to no Illinois or Federal law for the proposition that adoptive parents in the Does' position have a duty to investigate and determine the identity and location of the unwed father when the birth mother, for reasons of her own, adamantly refuses to reveal the identity of the person she believes is the father. The majority's unjustified imposition of such a duty in the present case is wholly unprecedented.