Court Opinion

ID: 9667580
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:49:58.138222+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:39.091224
License: Public Domain

HARRIS, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent because I am persuaded that the child’s best interests would be served by placement with his mother rather than his father. A common denominator, one which makes the question of placement a painful one, is the immaturity of each parent.
The majority has wisely chosen to not dwell on respective ingredients of each party’s shortcomings. It is ample to state that their past lifestyles demonstrate a lack of the stability which Matthew needs and deserves. Richard has shown a cavalier attitude toward any career. He admitted a poor work record and was unemployed at the time of trial. His social habits were at complete odds with those expected of a father and family man. Shelley’s social habits were depressingly similar. She seemed, as the trial court observed, self-centered. Her past dedication to parental responsibility was varied.
It seems that the clergyman who declined to officiate a marriage of the two on the basis of their immaturity acted with justification. Looking to their shortcomings at the time of hearing there is more than enough cause for disappointment in both parents. For two reasons, however, I think the record shows that Shelley is much more likely than Richard to grow in maturity and thereby provide Matthew with the stable environment he needs.
For one thing Shelley, more than Richard, can blame her age for her past immature conduct. Four years Richard’s junior, she was herself little more than a child when she undertook her relationship with Richard. Shelley’s parents’ objections to Richard were based as much on his age as on his lifestyle. To whatever extent maturity can be expected to occur with experience and the passage of time, Shelley has four important years of opportunity to grow. Richard has a correspondingly lesser likelihood to mature. To the same extent it must be assumed Richard has selected his lifestyle.
The record also indicates that Shelley is much more likely to find and exploit opportunities for self-improvement. Whatever her shortcomings, she has reached out for direction and instruction from her church, its institutions, even from Richard’s mother. Rather than choosing to remain locked in to the inadequacies which might seem inevitable from being a “child mother” she seems to have chosen to exploit her opportunities *10to improve her parenting skills. The record indicates she has far more opportunities than Richard has to exploit.
My reading of the record leads me to believe that Shelley can offer Matthew the more desirable and stable future. I would award Matthew’s custody to her.
UHLENHOPP and McCORMICK, JJ., join this dissent.