Court Opinion

ID: 9429309
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:26:24.219749+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:18.696991
License: Public Domain

Justice White,
with whom Justice Marshall and Justice Blackmun join, dissenting.
The question in this case is whether the State may, consistent with the Due Process Clause, deny notice and an opportunity to be heard in an adoption proceeding to a putative father when the State has actual notice of his existence, whereabouts, and interest in the child.
It is axiomatic that “[t]he fundamental requirement of due process is the opportunity to be heard ‘at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner.’” Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U. S. 319, 333 (1976), quoting Armstrong v. Manzo, 380 U. S. 545, 552 (1965). As Jessica’s biological father, Lehr either had an interest protected by the Constitution or he did not.1 If the entry of the adoption order in this case deprived Lehr of a constitutionally protected interest, he is entitled to notice and an opportunity to be heard before the order can be accorded finality.
According to Lehr, he and Jessica’s mother met in 1971 and began living together in 1974. The couple cohabited for *269approximately two years, until Jessica’s birth in 1976. Throughout the pregnancy and after the birth, Lorraine acknowledged to friends and relatives that Lehr was Jessica’s father; Lorraine told Lehr that she had reported to the New York State Department of Social Services that he was the father.2 Lehr visited Lorraine and Jessica in the hospital every day during Lorraine’s confinement. According to Lehr, from the time Lorraine was discharged from the hospital until August 1978, she concealed her whereabouts from him. During this time Lehr never ceased his efforts to locate Lorraine and Jessica and achieved sporadic success until August 1977, after which time he was unable to locate them at all. On those occasions when he did determine Lorraine’s location, he visited with her and her children to the extent she was willing to permit it. When Lehr, with the aid of a detective agency, located Lorraine and Jessica in August 1978, Lorraine was already married to Mr. Robertson. Lehr asserts that at this time he offered to provide financial assistance and to set up a trust fund for Jessica, but that Lorraine refused. Lorraine threatened Lehr with arrest unless he stayed away and refused to permit him to see Jessica. Thereafter Lehr retained counsel who wrote to Lorraine in early December 1978, requesting that she permit Lehr to visit Jessica and threatening legal action on Lehr’s behalf. On December 21, 1978, perhaps as a response to Lehr’s threatened legal action, appellees commenced the adoption action at issue here.
The majority posits that “[t]he intangible fibers that connect parent and child . . . are sufficiently vital to merit constitutional protection in appropriate cases.” Ante, at 256 *270(emphasis added). It then purports to analyze the particular facts of this case to determine whether appellant has a constitutionally protected liberty interest. We have expressly rejected that approach. In Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U. S. 564, 570-571 (1972), we stated that although “a weighing process has long been a part of any determination of the form of hearing required in particular situations ... to determine whether due process requirements apply in the first place, we must look not to the ‘weight’ but to the nature of the interest at stake ... to see if the interest is within the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection . . . .” See, e. g., Smith v. Organization of Foster Families, 431 U. S. 816, 839-842 (1977); Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U. S. 651, 672 (1977); Meachum v. Fano, 427 U. S. 215, 224 (1976); Goss v. Lopez, 419 U. S. 565, 575-576 (1975); Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U. S. 471, 481 (1972).
The “nature of the interest” at stake here is the interest that a natural parent has in his or her child, one that has long been recognized and accorded constitutional protection. We have frequently “stressed the importance of familial bonds, whether or not legitimized by marriage, and accorded them constitutional protection.” Little v. Streater, 452 U. S. 1, 13 (1981). If “both the child and the [putative father] in a paternity action have a compelling interest” in the accurate outcome of such a case, ibid., it cannot be disputed that both the child and the putative father have a compelling interest in the outcome of a proceeding that may result in the termination of the father-child relationship. “A parent’s interest in the accuracy and justice of the decision to terminate his or her parental status is... a commanding one.” Lassiter v. Department of Social Services, 452 U. S. 18, 27 (1981). It is beyond dispute that a formal order of adoption, no less than a formal termination proceeding, operates to permanently terminate parental rights.
Lehr’s version of the “facts” paints a far different picture than that portrayed by the majority. The majority’s recita*271tion, that “[ajppellant has never had any significant custodial, personal, or financial relationship with Jessica, and he did not seek to establish a legal tie until after she was two years old,” ante, at 262, obviously does not tell the whole story. Appellant has never been afforded an opportunity to present his case. The legitimation proceeding he instituted was first stayed, and then dismissed, on appellees’ motions. Nor could appellant establish his interest during the adoption proceedings, for it is the failure to provide Lehr notice and an opportunity to be heard there that is at issue here. We cannot fairly make a judgment based on the quality or substance of a relationship without a complete and developed factual record. This case requires us to assume that Lehr’s allegations are true — that but for the actions of the child’s mother there would have been the kind of significant relationship that the majority concedes is entitled to the full panoply of procedural due process protections.3
I reject the peculiar notion that the only significance of the biological connection between father and child is that “it offers the natural father an opportunity that no other male possesses to develop a relationship with his offspring.” Ante, at 262. A “mere biological relationship” is not as unimportant in determining the nature of liberty interests as the majority suggests.
*272“[T]he usual understanding of 'family’ implies biological relationships, and most decisions treating the relation between parent and child have stressed this element.” Smith v. Organization of Foster Families, supra, at 843. The “biological connection” is itself a relationship that creates a protected interest. Thus the “nature” of the interest is the parent-child relationship; how well developed that relationship has become goes to its “weight,” not its “nature.”4 Whether Lehr’s interest is entitled to constitutional protection does not entail a searching inquiry into the quality of the relationship but a simple determination of the fact that the relationship exists — a fact that even the majority agrees must be assumed to be established.
Beyond that, however, because there is no established factual basis on which to proceed, it is quite untenable to conclude that a putative father’s interest in his child is lacking in substance, that the father in effect has abandoned the child, or ultimately that the father’s interest is not entitled to the same minimum procedural protections as the interests of other putative fathers. Any analysis of the adequacy of the notice in this case must be conducted on the assumption that the interest involved here is as strong as that of any putative father. That is not to say that due process requires actual notice to every putative father or that adoptive parents or the State must conduct an exhaustive search of records or an intensive investigation before a final adoption order may be entered. The procedures adopted by the State, however, must at least represent a reasonable effort to determine the *273identity of the putative father and to give him adequate notice.
II
In this case, of course, there was no question about either the identity or the location of the putative father. The mother knew exactly who he was and both she and the court entering the order of adoption knew precisely where he was and how to give him actual notice that his parental rights were about to be terminated by an adoption order.5 Lehr was entitled to due process, and the right to be heard is one of the fundamentals of that right, which “ ‘has little reality or worth unless one is informed that the matter is pending and can choose for himself whether to appear or default, acquiesce or contest.’” Schroeder v. City of New York, 371 U. S. 208, 212 (1962), quoting Mullane v. Central Hanover Trust Co., 339 U. S. 306, 314 (1950).
The State concedes this much but insists that Lehr has had all the process that is due to him. It relies on § 111-a, which designates seven categories of unwed fathers to whom notice of adoption proceedings must be given, including any unwed father who has filed with the State a notice of his intent to claim paternity. The State submits that it need not give notice to anyone who has not filed his name, as he is permitted to do, and who is not otherwise within the designated catego*274ries, even if his identity and interest are known or are reasonably ascertainable by the State.
I am unpersuaded by the State’s position. In the first place, § 111-a defines six categories of unwed fathers to whom notice must be given even though they have not placed their names on file pursuant to the section. Those six categories, however, do not include fathers such as Lehr who have initiated filiation proceedings, even though their identity and interest are as clearly and easily ascertainable as those fathers in the six categories. Initiating such proceedings necessarily involves a formal acknowledgment of paternity, and requiring the State to take note of such a case in connection with pending adoption proceedings would be a trifling burden, no more than the State undertakes when there is a final adjudication in a paternity action.6 Indeed, there would appear to be more reason to give notice to those such as Lehr who acknowledge paternity than to those who have been adjudged to be a father in a contested paternity action.
The State asserts that any problem in this respect is overcome by the seventh category of putative fathers to whom notice must be given, namely, those fathers who have identified themselves in the putative fathers’ register maintained by the State. Since Lehr did not take advantage of this device to make his interest known, the State contends, he was not entitled to notice and a hearing even though his identity, location, and interest were known to the adoption court prior to entry of the adoption order. I have difficulty with this po*275sition. First, it represents a grudging and crabbed approach to due process. The State is quite willing to give notice and a hearing to putative fathers who have made themselves known by resorting to the putative fathers’ register. It makes little sense to me to deny notice and hearing to a father who has not placed his name in the register but who has unmistakably identified himself by filing suit to establish his paternity and has notified the adoption court of his action and his interest. I thus need not question the statutory scheme on its face. Even assuming that Lehr would have been foreclosed if his failure to utilize the register had somehow disadvantaged the State, he effectively made himself known by other means, and it is the sheerest formalism to deny him a hearing because he informed the State in the wrong manner.7
No state interest is substantially served by denying Lehr adequate notice and a hearing. The State no doubt has an interest in expediting adoption proceedings to prevent a child from remaining unduly long in the custody of the State or foster parents. But this is not an adoption involving a child in the custody of an authorized state agency. Here the child is in the custody of the mother and will remain in her custody. Moreover, had Lehr utilized the putative fathers’ register, he would have been granted a prompt hearing, and there was no justifiable reason, in terms of delay, to refüse him a hearing in the circumstances of this case.
The State’s undoubted interest in the finality of adoption orders likewise is not well served by a procedure that will *276deny notice and a hearing to a father whose identity and location are known. As this case well illustrates, denying notice and a hearing to such a father may result in years of additional litigation and threaten the reopening of adoption proceedings and the vacation of the adoption. Here, the Family Court’s unseemly rush to enter an adoption order after ordering that cause be shown why the filiation proceeding should not be transferred and consolidated with the adoption proceeding can hardly be justified by the interest in finality. To the contrary, the adoption order entered in March 1979 has remained open to question until this very day.
Because in my view the failure to provide Lehr with notice and an opportunity to be heard violated rights guaranteed him by the Due Process Clause, I need not address the question whether § 111-a violates the Equal Protection Clause by discriminating between categories of unwed fathers or by discriminating on the basis of gender.
Respectfully, I dissent.

 The majority correctly assumes that Lehr is in fact Jessica’s father. Indeed, Lehr has admitted paternity and sought to establish a legal relationship with the child. It is also noteworthy that the mother has never denied that Lehr is the father.

 Under 18 NYCRR § 369.2(b) (1982), recipients of public assistance in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program are required as a condition of eligibility to provide the name and address of the child’s father. Lorraine apparently received public assistance after Jessica’s birth; it is unclear whether she received public assistance after that regulation went into effect in 1977.

 In response to our decision in Caban v. Mohammed, 441 U. S. 380 (1979), the statute governing the persons whose consent is necessary to an adoption has been amended to include certain unwed fathers. The State has recognized that an unwed father’s failure to maintain an actual relationship or to communicate with a child will not deprive him of his right to consent if he was “prevented from doing so by the person or authorized agency having lawful custody of the child.” N. Y. Dom. Rel. Law § lll(l)(d) (McKinney Supp. 1982-1983) (as amended by Ch. 575, 1980 N. Y. Laws). Thus, even the State recognizes that before a lesser standard can be applied consistent with due process requirements, there must be a determination that there was no significant relationship and that the father was not prevented from forming such a relationship.

 The majority’s citation of Quilloin and Caban as examples that the Constitution does not require the same procedural protections for the interests of all unwed fathers is disingenuous. Neither case involved notice and opportunity to be heard. In both, the unwed fathers were notified and participated as parties in the adoption proceedings. See Quilloin v. Walcott, 434 U. S. 246, 253 (1978); Caban v. Mohammed, 441 U. S. 380, 385, n. 3 (1979).

 Absent special circumstances, there is no bar to requiring the mother of an illegitimate child to divulge the name of the father when the proceedings at issue involve the permanent termination of the father’s rights. Likewise, there is no reason not to require such identification when it is the spouse of the custodial parent who seeks to adopt the child. Indeed, the State now requires the mother to provide the identity of the father if she applies for financial benefits under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program. See n. 2, supra. The State’s obligation to provide notice to persons before their interests are permanently terminated cannot be a lesser concern than its obligation to assure that state funds are not expended when there exists a person upon whom the financial responsibility should fall.

 There is some indication that the sponsor of the bill that included the notice requirements of § 111-a believed that a putative father’s rights would be protected by the filing of a paternity action. In a letter to the Counsel to the Governor, Senator Pisani stated that a putative father who files with the registry should be expected to keep his address up-to-date because “such a father has elected not to avail himself of his right... to initiate a paternity proceeding, but, rather, has chosen the less involved procedure of filing a ‘notice of intent’ which will also protect his right to notice of subsequent proceedings affecting the child.” App. to Brief for Attorney General of New York 35a (emphasis added).

 In Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U. S. 645 (1972), the Court held that the Constitution forbids a State to remove illegitimate children from their father’s custody without notice and an opportunity to be heard. The offensive provision in the Illinois law at issue there was a presumption that an unwed father was not a fit parent. Today the Court indulges in a similar and equally offensive presumption — that an unwed father who has not filed a notice of intent to claim paternity has abandoned his child and waived any right to notice and hearing. This presumption operates regardless of the fact that the father has instituted legal proceedings to establish his rights and obligations.