Welfare of D.L., Matter of

• Decision Date: 12 June 1992
• Docket Number: No. C7-91-1173,C7-91-1173
• Citation: 486 N.W.2d 375
• Parties: In the Matter of the WELFARE OF D.L.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 375

486 N.W.2d 375

In the Matter of the WELFARE OF D.L.

No. C7-91-1173.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

June 12, 1992.

Syllabus by the Court

1. In adoptions, the best interests of a child presumptively are served by placement with relatives unless good cause to the contrary or detriment to the child are shown.

2. Where there are alternative petitions for adoption, and only one petitioner qualifies for the presumption in favor of family placement, it is within the trial court's discretion to consider that petition separately, so long as the court allows the other petitioners to participate in the proceedings.

3. The temporary restraining order barring the removal of D.L. from her foster home is lifted, effective ten days after the date this opinion is filed.

Stewart R. Perry, Shawn M. Perry, Shane C. Perry, Perry, Perry & Perry, Wayzata, for appellant.

Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Atty., William A. Neiman, Nancy K. Jones, Asst. County Attys., Minneapolis, for Hennepin County.

Robert Lewis Barrows, Steven L. Belton, Leonard, Street & Deinard, Minneapolis, for grandparents.

Wright S. Walling, George T. Stephenson, Walling & Berg, P.A., Minneapolis, for guardian ad litem.

Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., David P. Iverson, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, for Minnesota Dept. of Human Services.

Howard A. Knutson, Knutson, Stier, Ilstrup & Knutson, Burnsville, for NAACP, amicus curiae.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

GARDEBRING, Justice.

This case involves the adoption of 2-year-old D.L., who has lived with her foster parents since four days after her birth in July 1989. The foster parents and D.L.'s maternal grandparents both filed petitions to adopt the child after the parental rights of D.L.'s natural mother and father were terminated. The trial court granted the grandparents' petition, based on the family preference for adoption of minority children expressed in Minn.Stat. Sec. 259.28, subd. 2 (1990). ¹ The court of appeals held the statute unconstitutional, but affirmed the trial court's result, based on a common-law preference for family placements. In re D.L., 479 N.W.2d 408, 412-15 (Minn.App.1991).

The briefs and oral argument in this case reflect careful legal research and thoughtful analysis. But the court is also mindful that this is not a case about the meaning of an insurance policy or the interpretation of a statute; it is about a child, much loved by two families, each prepared to raise her with care and devotion, one of whom will be enriched and delighted by her presence in their home, and the other of whom will be deprived of the joy she gives. As a court, we must be guided by abstract legal principles, but in this case, we have attempted to apply the wisdom of our hearts, as well.

We affirm the decisions of the lower courts, and conclude that D.L. be placed for adoption in the home of her grandparents, consistent with the order of the trial court of April 19, 1991. We do not reach the constitutional issue because, whether or not the particular scheme of Minn.Stat. Sec. 259.28 is valid, a strong preference for family placement is well established in Minnesota law. The touchstone of our analysis, as always, is the best interests of the child, and consistent with that principle, we hold today that adoptive placement with relatives is presumptively in a child's best interests, unless good cause to the contrary or detriment to the child are shown.

D.L. was born July 12, 1989, the daughter of an African-American mother. D.L.'s parents separated in 1988. Shortly thereafter, D.L.'s mother left her other three children with her parents in Virginia. D.L.'s mother returned to Minnesota and maintained only sporadic contact with her parents thereafter.

At birth, D.L. was released by her mother to a foster care and adoption agency. Four days later, D.L. was placed with her foster parents, who are Caucasian. The placement agency was unable to find D.L.'s extended family because the mother provided false information and did not maintain contact with the agency. In September 1989, D.L.'s grandparents, who are African-American, first learned that D.L. had been born and placed in foster care. The child's mother refused to provide any further information to them. In February 1990, the grandparents learned that D.L.'s mother was in jail in Minneapolis. In July 1990, D.L.'s mother told her parents that she was in danger of losing custody of D.L. D.L.'s grandmother came to Minnesota, determined her whereabouts and made inquiries to a foster care social worker about seeing the child.

On August 16, 1990, the Hennepin County Juvenile Court terminated the parental rights of D.L.'s mother and father. The child became a ward of the state and remained in the custody of the foster parents. The child's grandmother indicated to county social workers that she and her husband wanted to adopt D.L. The county began to develop a permanent placement plan for D.L., and determined that they should try to place her with her grandparents, in compliance with the preference expressed in Minn.Stat. Sec. 259.28, subd. 2. Upon learning that D.L.'s grandmother was seeking to take the child back to Virginia, the foster parents sought and received a temporary restraining order. The trial court found that the county had not adequately considered whether moving D.L. would needlessly disrupt her attachment to her foster parents when her ultimate placement was uncertain.

On October 5, 1990, the foster parents filed a petition to adopt. The grandparents filed their petition on November 8, and were granted reasonable visitation with the child. With the assistance of the county, they began visiting the child frequently. Hennepin County social workers, along with their counterparts in Virginia, conducted a study of the grandparents' home, and recommended that the grandparents' adoption petition be granted. The trial court invoked Rule 42.02, Minn.R.Civ.P. ² to consider the grandparents' petition first reasoning that only if it found good cause not to follow the statutory family preference, would it need to reach other issues; thus the only issue litigated was whether there was good cause not to invoke the preference. The foster parents were allowed to participate in the proceeding as intervenors, but their role was limited to presenting evidence on the issue of good cause.

At trial, the evidence showed that the grandparents are in good health and that their home life is financially and emotionally stable. The evidence further showed that the grandparents have six children, two of whom remain at home: a 17-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son. The grandparents also have legal and physical custody of D.L.'s sisters. D.L.'s brother is presently living with his father.

The key issue at trial was the severity of any trauma D.L. might experience by being moved from the foster home to her grandparents' home. All six experts testified that breaking the bond that has developed between D.L. and her foster parents would cause some harm because they are the only parents D.L. has known. However, there was disagreement among the six experts as to the permanency of the harm. The experts testifying on behalf of the grandparents indicated that any damage would be temporary and that the child's sense of loss would diminish as new attachments are formed.

The trial court credited that view and found, among other things, that the trauma of breaking the primary attachment is temporary and heals well in most cases; that the trauma of being moved from one good home to another is likely to be reflected in the child's conduct for up to 180 days; that a child who has formed a healthy attachment to a primary caretaker is likely to be able to form a subsequent good attachment to a different caretaker; that the likelihood of significant emotional harm from moving a securely-attached child from one good home to another is small, and that the temporary pain of separation from the foster family does not outweigh the lifelong advantages of living with a child's natural family. The trial court concluded that there was no good cause not to apply the statutory family preference, and that it would not be detrimental to D.L. to be adopted by her grandparents. The order for adoption by the grandparents was granted on April 19, 1991. The trial court ordered that the temporary restraining order against removal of D.L. from the foster home be lifted, but the court of appeals reinstated the temporary restraining order, pending "final resolution" of the case.

On May 7, the foster parents filed a motion for amended findings, conclusions and order for judgment or a new trial, plus a motion for the trial judge to recuse, based on arguments that (1) the findings were not supported by the evidence; (2) the conclusions were not supported by law; and (3) there were irregularities which deprived appellants of a fair trial, including bias by the trial court. Particularly bothersome to appellants was a June 1990 newspaper essay ³ in which the judge wrote, among other things:

[T]he vast majority of white Minnesotans unthinkingly accept white culture as the norm--indeed, as the whole of reality. To such radical ethnocentrics, people of color are forever too weak (they "can't" act white, i.e. "normal") or too scary (they won't act white). Whites who want not to be racist expend huge effort trying to be clear and fair in their understanding of people of color, so as to help colored people transform themselves into a reasonable facsimile of white people. What we really must do is see that we, in our unexamined whiteness, are the problem. We should use our energy better, use it to understand how we have constructed an America that vests unearned power and privilege in whites.

Star Tribune, June 21, 1990, at 21A, col. 2.

The trial court denied all of the appellants' post-trial motions. A divided court of appeals panel affirmed the trial court's...