Court Opinion

ID: 9851340
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:10:59.220214+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:53.909555
License: Public Domain

SNELL, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
The evidence is sufficient to show abandonment of the baby by Daniel. The record shows he has previously failed to raise or support his other two children. He quit supporting his son, born in 1976, after two years. From 1978 to 1990 he saw him three times. He has another daughter whom he has never seen and has failed to support. He stated he just never took any interest in her. In every meaningful way, he abandoned them.
Daniel knew that Cara was pregnant in December 1990. He saw her in the building where they worked for the same employer. The child was born in February 1991. Having knowledge of the facts that support the likelihood that he was the biological father, nevertheless, he did nothing to protect his rights. The mother, Cara, who knew better than anyone who the father was, named Scott as the father. The legal proceedings logically and reasonably were based on these representations. The termination of parental rights as known to exist at the time were legally completed and an adoption process was commenced.
Daniel’s sudden desire to assume parental responsibilities is a late claim to assumed rights that he forfeited by his indifferent conduct to the fate of Cara and her child. The specter of newly named genetic fathers, upsetting adoptions, perhaps years later, is an unconscionable result. Such a consequence is not driven by the language of our statutes, due process concerns or the facts of this case.
I would remand for termination of Daniel’s parental rights based on abandonment and denial of Cara’s motions. The intervention petition of Daniel in the adoption case should be dismissed on remand and the adoption proceed.