Opinion ID: 2674677
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: for the reasons stated above, we affirm the

Text: DISTRICT COURT’S DENIAL OF MR. CARLTON’S REQUEST FOR DECLARATORY RELIEF ¶59 In his Amended Petition, Mr. Carlton requested “that an order issue declaring any previous termination of [Mr. Carlton’s] parental rights, and/or any adoption to be set aside, and further that any statute upon which [Adoption Center and Ms. Brown] may rely to ostensibly justify their wrongful conduct . . . be declared unconstitutional.” As justification for such an order, Mr. Carlton asserted the same arguments mentioned above, namely the facial and as applied unconstitutionality of the Act, violations of due process and equal protection, violation of Utah’s constitutional open courts provision, and vagueness. As set forth above, however, we cannot reach the merits of these claims until the child’s adoptive parents are parties to this action, since their rights would be directly or indirectly implicated by the grant of declaratory relief Mr. Carlton seeks. Therefore, due process requires that the Adoptive Parents be given the opportunity to be heard with respect to this issue. Accordingly, we decline to address the merits of this claim and remand it to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.