Court Opinion

ID: 9615908
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:41:45.073972+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:08:08.708862
License: Public Domain

JACKSON, Judge
dissenting.
For the reasons stated below, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that clear, cogent, and convincing evidence exists to support the termination of respondent’s parental rights, and thus the trial court’s denial of the petition must be reversed.
As noted by the majority, North Carolina General Statutes, section 7B-llll(a)(5) provides that a putative father’s parental rights may be terminated when he has failed to take specific actions prior to the filing of the petition to terminate his parental rights. Prior to the filing of the petition, the putative father must have done one of the following: 1) establish paternity judicially; 2) legitimate the juvenile either through judicial process or by marriage to the mother, or 3) provide the biological mother with substantial financial support or consistent care. The petitioner seeking to terminate the putative father’s rights must satisfy the heightened standard of clear, cogent, and convincing evidence to show that facts exist to support a finding that the father has failed to do one of the required actions prior to the filing of the petition.
In the instant case, respondent was purposefully deceived by the biological mother into believing that she had miscarried his child, and that there was, in fact, no baby. Only when he was physically served with the petition to terminate his parental rights to the child did he have any reason to believe that the biological mother actually had given birth to a child. At this point in time, he still did not know that the child was, in fact, his. Thus, respondent could not have legiti*107mated the child or sought to establish paternity of the child prior to the filing of the petition, as the petition was the first actual notice that he had of the existence of the child as noted extensively in the majority’s recitation of the facts, supra.
The majority relies on the holdings of In re Adoption of Byrd, 354 N.C. 188, 552 S.E.2d 142 (2001) and In re Adoption of Anderson, 360 N.C. 271, 624 S.E.2d 626 (2006) in its opinion. Although I recognize that this line of cases has established bright line rules regarding the rights of a putative father, I believe that the instant case is distinguishable from both Byrd and Anderson due to its unique facts. In both Byrd and Anderson, the putative fathers made offers of support, which subsequently were turned down by the biological mothers. In the instant case, it is undisputed that respondent made drastic changes in his life upon learning of the pregnancy. Respondent’s actions from the time he learned of the pregnancy cannot be seen as anything but an acknowledgment of his paternity. When respondent returned home in December following the news of the pregnancy, he worked with his uncle while seeking regular, steady employment. He was not in a position to provide financially for the biological mother, therefore he provided consistent care for her in the only way in which he knew how. He visited her regularly and cared for her children. He made plans for the child’s future, which included purchasing a four-door vehicle which would be suitable for transporting a child.
Respondent’s relationship with the biological mother continued until the time when the couple decided not to get married, at which point he remained in contact with the mother. He testified that he cared for the biological mother’s children on multiple occasions so that she could attend prenatal doctor’s visits. When the mother specifically asked respondent to relinquish his rights to the child, he adamantly refused, stating that he would care for the child. Only when the biological mother told respondent that she had miscarried did he stop contacting her. Respondent had no reason to doubt the mother’s statements, as her statements remained consistent to him and his family throughout the remainder of the year. Moreover, he took fairly dramatic steps to ensure the veracity of those statements, such as contacting the Johnston County Department of Social Services after learning of the abandonment of a child the same weekend the biological mother informed him she had miscarried, and thereafter agreeing to take a paternity test.to conclude whether or not that child was his.
*108In both Byrd and Anderson, our Supreme Court held that a biological mother should not be permitted to control the adoption process to the complete exclusion of the biological father. In Byrd the Court held that “fundamental fairness dictates that a man should not be held to a standard that produces unreasonable or illogical results. . . . [T]he General Assembly did not intend to place the mother in total control of the adoption to the exclusion of any inherent rights of the biological father.” Byrd, 354 N.C. at 196, 552 S.E.2d at 147-48. Similarly, in Anderson the Court held that “the mother’s refusal to accept assistance cannot defeat [a putative father’s] paternal interest.” Anderson, 360 N.C. at 279, 624 S.E.2d at 630. Specifically, its resolution in that case was not intended to “grant biological mothers the power to thwart the rights of putative fathers.” Id. Thus, to permit a mother purposefully to deceive the biological father regarding the existence of his child, only to then proceed with an adoption of the child, thereby terminating his parental rights based on her deception and lies, seems to be the precise illogical and unreasonable result that our General Assembly intended to avoid, and would, indeed, afford the biological mother prone to such deception the opportunity to “thwart” a putative father as specifically addressed in Anderson.
I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that respondent failed to comply with the requirements of North Carolina General Statutes, section 7B-1111(a)(5)(d), however. As provided by the statute, the putative father may achieve compliance by providing the mother with substantial financial support or consistent care. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7B-1111(a)(5)(d). As noted by the trial court in its finding of fact, respondent maintained
consistent contact by phone and in person with the biological mother regarding the progress of the pregnancy, leaving school to return home to care for the child, gaining and maintaining employment, attending a prenatal appointment, caring for [her] other two children so that she could attend other prenatal appointments, engaging in conversations regarding the naming of the child, and purchasing a larger car to transport the child[.]
Moreover, he informed the biological mother during her pregnancy that he would be willing to provide primary care for the child if she was unwilling to do so. Her response to this proposal was that he would be the last person to care for the child. I believe that these activities are sufficient to satisfy the statutory requirement that a *109putative father provide either financial support or consistent care to the biological mother. The trial court’s findings also clearly show that even after the putative father had been informed of the miscarriage of his child, he continued to search for that child, hampered by the biological mother’s concerted efforts to prevent him from learning of the child’s existence and by our state’s confidentiality laws. Only after the biological mother engaged in a determined campaign of deception, did respondent cease his efforts to locate his child and provide the mother with care. To argue, as the majority does, that respondent should have filed an affidavit to legitimate an illusory child seems beyond the bounds of what we reasonably may expect of any man.
I note, too, that our interpretation of North Carolina General Statutes, section 7B-1111(a)(5)(d) appears to be a matter of first impression as to the interpretation of the phrase “consistent care.” The Court in Byrd and Anderson upheld the termination of the putative fathers’ parental rights through our adoption statutes found in Chapter 48 of the North Carolina General Statutes. In both Byrd and Anderson, the Court held that due to the putative fathers’ failure to provide financial support to the biological mothers, the fathers’ consent to the adoptions was not required pursuant to North Carolina General Statutes, section 48-3-601. In the instant case, petitioner sought to terminate respondent’s parental rights under the provisions of the Juvenile Code found in Chapter 7B of North Carolina General Statutes, not our state’s adoption statutes.
Respondent provided regular and consistent care to the mother throughout her pregnancy, and was deceived intentionally about the birth of the child. In the instant case I believe petitioner has failed to satisfy the standard of clear, cogent, and convincing evidence of respondent’s failure to provide consistent care to the mother during her pregnancy. Respondent could not have established paternity or legitimated the child prior to the filing of the petition, as he was lead falsely to believe the child had died. I believe the instant case is distinguishable from the line of cases following Byrd and Anderson, as respondent was purposefully deceived and.was not made aware of the existence of his child until the time he was served with the petition. Therefore, I would affirm the trial court’s denial of the petition to terminate respondent’s parental rights.