Opinion ID: 1369253
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: are the oklahoma adoption statutes unconstitutional as to this unwed father?

Text: The appellant challenges the constitutionality of the Oklahoma adoption statutes [21] on two fronts. We have held that he has standing to do so. He claims that these statutes violated his Fifth and Fourteenth amendment rights to due process and equal protection. Although there was notice by publication, he contends that this notice was not sufficient to meet due process requirements under the circumstances of this case. He argues, therefore, his interest in his newborn child was denied him without due process because he did not receive notice and the opportunity to be heard on the adoption of his newborn child. [22] He contends that his right to equal protection was violated by the Oklahoma adoption statutes because they require the consent of, and thereby afford notice and an opportunity to be heard to, fathers and mothers of legitimate children, and to mothers of illegitimate children but not to fathers of illegitimate children. [23] In our consideration of these challenges to the constitutionality to the Oklahoma adoption statutes, we will address first the due process argument, then the one concerning equal protection.
The appellant contends that he was denied his interest in his newborn child without due process of law by the Oklahoma adoption statutes. In addressing this allegation this Court must answer the following question: Was the interest of the appellant-unwed father of such constitutional stature that due process required he be given notice and the opportunity to be heard on the adoption of his newborn child? The Fourteenth Amendment provides that no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. [24] When that clause is invoked in that context, this Court must make a determination of the precise nature of the private interest that is threatened by the state. [25] Only after that interest has been identified can a proper evaluation of the adequacy of the state's process be made. [26] We, therefore, first consider the nature of the interest in liberty for which appellant claims constitutional protection, and then turn to the discussion of the adequacy of the procedure that Oklahoma has provided for such protection. In legal problems arising from the parent-child relationship, the United States Supreme Court has held in some cases that the Federal Constitution supercedes state law and provides even greater protection for certain formal family relationships. In those cases the Court has emphasized that the paramount interest is the welfare of the child and has noted that the rights of the parents are a counterpart of the responsibilities they have assumed. The Supreme Court, in its development of the constitutional theory of parental rights, has given attention to the protection to be given to biological parents who have developed emotional bonds with their children. Those emotional bonds are a critical factor in the determination of the constitutional right of biological parents to maintain their relation with their children. A biological relationship is of constitutional significance because it offers biological parents a unique opportunity to develop these emotional bonds with their children. [27] The Court has examined the extent to which a natural, unwed father's biological relationship with his child receives protection under the due process clause in precisely four cases: Stanley v. Illinois , [28] Quilloin v. Walcott, [29] Caban v. Mohammed [30] and Lehr v. Robertson . [31] These cases are important in the instant case because only when the Court has determined the unwed father to be one whose relationship with his child has amounted to a custodial relationship, has the Court responded favorably to the unwed father. In Stanley v. Illinois , the Court described Peter Stanley as a man who had sired and raised [32] his children. A man who had lived with and supported them all their lives. [33] In the Court's opinion, there was no question that Stanley was the natural father. The Court equated the interest of a custodial unwed father with that of any other custodial parent and gave it equal constitutional stature. Illinois depended on the conclusive presumption that all unwed fathers are unqualified to have custody of their children. The Court, however, concluded that if Stanley was a fit parent, removal of his children would do nothing to further the state's interest in the welfare and safety of his children. Thus, there was a necessity to disprove Stanley's fitness. As a custodial unwed father, Stanley had a constitutional interest in his relationship with his children equal to the interest of other custodial parents. His interest entitled him to a hearing on his fitness because fitness was the standard applied to state removal of children from other custodial parents. It was his custody of his children, and not his biological connection alone, that gave him an interest of the same stature as that of any other custodial parent. [34] In Caban v. Mohammed , [35] Caban unlike Stanley, could claim protection only for the emotional ties created by a past custodial relationship and not for a current custodial relationship. However, the Court recognized that the relationship established by Caban's former care and support of his children was potentially of equal weight with the relationship they currently had with their custodial mother. At least that weight was equal as against a state statute that gave mothers the power to withhold consent to the adoption of their children, while denying the same power to such fathers. For such purposes, a once-custodial father's relationship is similar to that of a presently custodial mother. Caban [36] is limited to fathers like Caban who have had substantial relationships with their children. Fathers of newborn children are excluded because of the potentially greater difficulties in locating them. Because of a real difference in the availability of the father of newborns, differential treatment of them directed to their unavailability can be justified because of its substantial relationship to the state's interest in promoting adoption, regardless of the similarity of the father's interest to the mother's. [37] The court noted that the argument posed by the general unavailability of unwed fathers did not apply to Caban because fathers like Caban with substantial relationships with their children are clearly not unavailable. But if a father had not established such a relationship with his children, he cannot complain about differential treatment. [38] In Quilloin v. Walcott, [39] Quilloin's relationship with his child was quite different from Stanley's or Caban's. Specifically, he had never consistently supported the child, and had never had nor sought actual or legal custody of the child. [40] Unlike Stanley, the adoption did not terminate a current custodial relationship between a father and his son, and unlike Caban, the adoption did not terminate a current emotional relationship that had been created during a former custodial relationship. Nevertheless, Quilloin claimed that his interest in retaining his relationship with his son was of the same constitutional significance of Stanley's and could not be terminated by the state without the same substantive justification, i.e. proof of his unfitness as a father. Justice Marshall, for a unanimous court, focused on the fact that Quilloin did not have, had never had, and had never even sought actual or legal custody of his child, [41] and permitted the adoption of his child to stand. The Court emphasized the distinction between a custodial father and a noncustodial father and indicated that the interest of noncustodial parents have less constitutional significance than the interest of custodial parents. More recently, the court has distinguished Stanley and Caban from Quilloin by calling the relationships in Stanley and Caban developed and the relationship in Quilloin merely potential. [42] In essence, the distinction relates to the special kind of relationship that is developed by the exercise of custodial responsibilities. The appellant, who does not presently have and has never had custody of his child, can make no absolute claim that he must be empowered to veto the adoption of his child. Under Stanley, Caban and Quilloin, [43] custody, the shouldering of significant responsibility with respect to daily supervision, education, and protection, is the sine qua non for substantial protection. In Lehr v. Robertson , [44] the natural father, complained that the state's failure to provide for his participation in the proceedings leading to the adoption of his daughter cut off his opportunity to establish a protected relationship with the child. The Court declared that the State of New York was not required to notify Lehr of, nor allow him to participate in, the proceedings leading to the adoption of his child. The state need not always give the father power to veto his child's adoption, nor must the state even consider the father's actual or potential relationship with the child as a factor in determining whether adoption is in the best interest of the child. [45] After Lehr, [46] it is clear that in some circumstances the state may constitutionally omit to notify or allow participation by unwed fathers who have never been established officially as being without an interest, and the state may even deny them participation in the preliminary stage determining that they are without an interest. In the instant case, this court must determine what right, if any, appellant, who has shown no interest in his child or in the care of the mother and the child prior to birth, has with respect to notice and the opportunity to be heard concerning the adoption of his newborn child. From the four Supreme Court cases, we know that his right is certainly less than a father's who has or has had custody and has fulfilled the custodial responsibilities that go with custody. The Constitution protects only parent-child relationships of biological parents who have actually committed themselves to their children and have exercised responsibility for rearing their children. This principal has its basis in the theory that the process of defining which relationships are constitutionally significant includes a consideration of how the competing interests are served by protection. Parents who commit themselves to their children and take responsibility for rearing their children share the state's interest in assuming proper care for their children. However, the paramount interest to be considered is the child's best interest. Children are not static objects. They grow and develop, and their growth and development require more than day-to-day satisfaction of their physical needs. Their growth and development also require day-to-day satisfaction of their emotional needs, and a primary emotional need is for permanence and stability. Only when their emotional needs are satisfied can children develop the emotional attachments that have independent constitutional significance. [47] This court recognizes that a child's need for permanence and stability, like his or her other needs, cannot be postponed. It must be provided early. The need for early assurance of permanence and stability is an essential factor in a constitutional determination in the instant case of whether or not to protect the appellant's potential relationship with his child. The basis for constitutional protection is missing if the parent seeking it has not taken on those parental responsibilities which provide such permanence and stability. In this case, we are concerned with the rights an unwed father of a newborn child has, when his interests and those of the mother are in conflict, and the best interest of the child is served by adoption and legitimation. After consideration of all the interests involved, the legislative goal of the statute and compelling state interest in requiring only the consent of one parent, the mother, is to facilitate adoptions that are in the best interest of the child born out of wedlock. To do otherwise would in many instances deny the child  and the state  the benefits of adoption and legitimation. Here the appellant made no attempt to provide for the mother during pregnancy. Nor did he attempt to learn when and where the child was to be born. Appellant did not pay, nor attempt to make any arrangements for the payment of the expenses related to the birth and care of the child or mother. He in effect abandoned the support and care of the mother and child during pregnancy and at birth. He did not assume any parental responsibilities. The Oklahoma statutory scheme for adoption of a child born out of wedlock did not require the consent of the appellant and, thereby, did not require that he have notice and an opportunity to be heard concerning the adoption of his child. Under the facts of this case, we hold that the statutory scheme for the adoption of children born out of wedlock is constitutionally sound, and that it was constitutionally permissible to omit notice and the opportunity for the appellant to be heard in the adoption proceedings.
Although gender-based statutory classifications deserve careful constitutional examination, [48] they are not invariably invalid. When men and women are not in fact similarly situated in the area covered by the legislation questioned, the Equal Protection Clause is not violated. [49] Appellant urges on appeal that the Oklahoma statutory scheme allowing adoptions of illegitimate children without the consent of the natural father constitutes a gender-based distinction which is violative of equal protection under the law. Therefore, it is necessary to determine whether there are differences between the members of the two classes that provide justification for treating them differently. Men and women are different, and the differences are relevant to the question whether the mother may be given the exclusive right to consent to the adoption of a child born out of wedlock. Because the adoption in this case, as in most adoptions, involves a newborn infant, it is appropriate to focus on the significance of the differences in such cases. From the point of conception on, the law recognizes the very real differences between the father and mother concerning the child's destiny. Only the mother has the constitutional right to decide whether to have the child or not have the child. [50] The mother has the right to marry another male before the child is born and affect the rights of the natural father who does not even have standing to dispute that the child is the child of the natural mother and her husband. [51] At birth the mother is given custody of the child born out of wedlock. [52] The mother may choose to marry the natural father and positively affect his rights. [53] From conception through infancy the unwed mother will constantly be faced with decisions about how to best care for the child. It is much less certain that the unwed father will be faced with such problems. At the time and immediately after a child is born out of wedlock, the natural and real differences between the mother and father continue to justify some differential treatment of the mother and father in the adoption process. These differences justify a rule that gives the mother in whose sole charge the infant is often placed the maximum flexibility in deciding how to best care for the child. This is the rationale for a rule that gives the mother of the newborn child born out of wedlock the exclusive right to consent to its adoption. Also, adequacy of notice to absent fathers could invade the mother's privacy, cause the adopting parents to doubt the reliability of the new relationship, and add to the expense and time required to conclude what is now usually a simple and certain process. Although in Caban [54] the Court struck down the New York statute based on an equal protection argument, Caban, as Stanley, had in the past had custody and had exercised the burden of the custodial responsibilities given such importance in the Court's opinion. The Court took special care to distinguish Caban's claim from that of a father of a newborn. Caban had assumed full custodial responsibility for his children and thereby established a relationship equal in every way with that of any other single custodial parent. The Court said, however,: In those cases where the father never has come forward to participate in the rearing of his child, nothing in the Equal Protection Clause precludes the State from withholding from him the privilege of vetoing the adoption of that child. [55] It must be remembered that there are not two, but three interests at stake: those of the mother's, the father's and child's. Concerns humane, as well as practical, abundantly support our statutory scheme that only one parent need to consent to the adoption of the illegitimate child, although it requires both parents to consent to the adoption of one already legitimate. If the consent of both unwed parents were required, and one withheld that consent, the illegitimate child would remain illegitimate. We know from Quilloin, [56] that requiring the consent of only one parent is not in itself constitutionally defective. In Quilloin, the Court found a Georgia Statute which always required a mother's consent to the adoption of a child born out of wedlock, but required the father's consent only if he had legitimated the child, did not violate the Equal Protection Clause. The most relevant consideration by the Court in evaluating both the rights of the parents and the best interest of the child is the existence or non-existence of a substantial relationship between parent and child. In the instant case, that same consideration is sufficiently profound to overcome appellant's claim that he has been invidiously discriminated against because he is a male. In the adoption proceeding the competing interests at stake must be balanced. Granting unwed fathers the same rights as all other parents, but with no guarantee that they would assume the responsibilities that other parents assume, would be giving the unwed father an unqualified right to block an adoption, absent unfitness, even though the adoption might be in the child's best interest. The Supreme Court has been unwilling to allow unwed fathers to have the rights of parenthood without also assuming the responsibilities of parenthood. This reasoning represents a careful balancing of the competing interests at stake. We concur in that reasoning and its result. Requiring the consent to adoption of the natural mother, but not the consent of the natural father, of the child born out of wedlock in the instance case does not deny appellant equal protection of the law.