James v. S.C. Dep't of Soc. Servs.

• Decision Date: 08 March 2013
• Docket Number: No. 27232.,27232.
• Citation: 402 S.C. 311,741 S.E.2d 515
• Parties: James and Diane YOUNGBLOOD, Respondents, v. SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, Defendant, v. Jane and John Doe, Intervenors, of whom, Jane and John Doe are the Petitioners. Appellate Case No. 2012–212047.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court

402 S.C. 311

741 S.E.2d 515

James and Diane YOUNGBLOOD, Respondents,

v.SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, Defendant,

v.Jane and John Doe, Intervenors,of whom, Jane and John Doe are the Petitioners.

Appellate Case No. 2012–212047.

No. 27232.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Heard Jan. 8, 2013.

Decided March 8, 2013.

Vanessa H. Kormylo, of Greenville, for Petitioners.

Sarah G. Drawdy, of The Drawdy Law Firm, LLC, of Anderson, for Respondents.

Justice HEARN.

In this case we must decide whether former foster parents have standing to petition to adopt a child placed for adoption by the Department of Social Services (DSS) with a different family. We hold the former foster parents possess neither statutory nor constitutional standing, and reverse.

FACTUAL/PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Child was born in 2006 and is the youngest of five siblings. On August 28, 2007, the children were removed from their biological parents by DSS. Thereafter, on October 12, 2007, Child was placed for foster care with the Youngbloods and Child's siblings were placed with other foster care providers. ¹ Child remained with the Youngbloods continuously, although with regular sibling visitation, until June 24, 2009.

DSS informed the Youngbloods by mail on April 27, 2008, that adoption was Child's permanent care plan and advised them as to what actions they needed to take in order to be considered as adoptive parents for Child. The letter went on to state that “if the child in your home has a sibling or siblings placed in a different foster home, it will be the first priority of this agency to reunite and place these siblings together for the purpose of adoption.” The Youngbloods applied to adopt Child and completed the required home study, but they did not apply to adopt her siblings.

On March 17, 2009, DSS informed the Youngbloods that they had not been selected as Child's adoptive parents and she had been placed with another family.² Specifically, the letter stated:

Your adoptive home study has been received and approved. Please note that you had applied originally for the placement of [Child]. However, this sibling group of five has been placed together. Given these circumstances, your approved home study will be placed in our state office files for consideration when a child with the characteristics in which you are interested in parenting become available for adoption.

The adoptive family selected by DSS was the Does. Subsequently, DSS gave the Youngbloods the requisite ten days' written notice of Child's removal from their foster care. From this point on, four separate, overlapping actions were filed: DSS's termination of parental rights suit, the Youngbloods' administrative appeal of Child's removal, the Youngbloods' adoption action, and the Does' adoption action.

First, on January 30, 2009, DSS filed an action seeking to terminate the parental rights of Child's parents. On May 8, 2009, the Youngbloods filed an administrative appeal with DSS's Fair Hearing Committee concerning the impending removal of Child from their home. Child was removed from the Youngbloods' home on June 24, 2009, and placed, along with her siblings, with the Does. Then, on July 6, 2009, the Youngbloods filed the instant adoption action in family court for the adoption of Child, naming DSS as defendant. On July 29, 2009, the Does filed an action petitioning the family court to permit them to adopt Child and her four siblings.

On July 30, 2009, the Fair Hearing Committee issued a final administrative order denying the Youngbloods' administrative appeal. The Committee stated the issues before it were whether DSS followed the requisite procedure in removing Child and whether DSS afforded the Youngbloods due process. The Committee found DSS followedthe required procedure by giving the Youngbloods ten days' notice of the removal and afforded them procedural and substantive due process because it provided notice and a rational explanation—placement with her siblings—for the removal. The Youngbloods did not appeal the Committee's decision.

In the Youngblood's adoption action, the family court entered an expedited temporary order on August 4, 2009, granting them custody of Child. The court also granted a motion to intervene by the Does, found that visitation between Child and her siblings would be in her best interests, and directed the parties, Child's therapist, and the guardian ad litem to formulate a visitation schedule.

On August 24, 2009, the family court entered a final order in DSS's termination of parental rights action granting the requested termination. Additionally, the order provided: “Custody of the Defendant children shall be granted to the South Carolina Department of Social Services, with all rights of Guardian ad Litemship, placement, care and supervision, including the sole authority to consent to any adoption....”

On May 4, 2010, the family court entered a final adoption order for Child's four siblings declaring the Does to be the legal parents of those four children. However, the family court took no action regarding Child due to the Youngbloods' pending adoption action.

In the Youngbloods' adoption action, both the Does and DSS moved to dismiss on the grounds the Youngbloods lacked standing and were statutorily barred from adopting Child because DSS had not consented to the adoption. The family court found the Youngbloods had standing pursuant to Section 63–9–60 of the South Carolina Code (2012). The court distinguished Michael P. v. Greenville County Department of Social Services, 385 S.C. 407, 684 S.E.2d 211 (Ct.App.2009), in which the court of appeals held that former foster parents did not have standing to seek adoption of a child in DSS's custody, on the basis that here, the Youngbloods informed DSS of their desire to adopt Child, obtained DSS's approval to serve as adoptive parents prior to removal of Child,³ and timely pursued an administrative appeal of the removal of Child. The family court then considered Child's best interests and granted the Youngbloods' petition to adopt Child, subject to sibling visitation.

The Does and the Youngbloods filed cross-appeals with the court of appeals. Relevant to our writ of certiorari, the Does asserted that the family court erred in finding the Youngbloods had standing to adopt, granting the Youngbloods' adoption petition without the consent of DSS, and finding adoption of Child by the Youngbloods was in Child's best interests.⁴Youngblood v. DSS, Op. No. 2012–UP–172 (S.C. Ct.App. filed March 8, 2012).

In a per curiam, unpublished opinion, the court of appeals ruled against the Does on all grounds. The court acknowledged the holding in Michael P. that former foster parents do not have standing under section 63–9–60 to seek adoption of a child placed in an adoptive home by DSS, and noted that the Youngbloods' “broad window to petition the family court under section 63–9–60(A)(1) had closed.” However, the court of appeals, apparently sua sponte, held that Section 63–9–310(D) of the South Carolina Code (2010) provided standing to the Youngbloods. According to that section, when DSS denies consent to adopt to a person eligible under section 63–9–60, it has “an affirmative duty to inform the person who is denied consent of all of his rights for judicial review of the denial.” S.C.Code Ann. § 63–9–310(D). Based on that provision, the court of appeals held:

any person who is initially eligible to adopt under section 63–9–60 and who is aggrieved by a child-placing agency's decision to deny them consent to adopt a specific child may petition the family court to review the child-placing agency's decision in order to determine whether it was in the child's best interests.

Finally, the court affirmed the family court's finding that placement with the Youngbloods was in Child's best interests, holding the Does failed to present sufficient evidence to meet their burden on this issue.

ISSUES

I. Did the court of appeals err in holding the Youngbloods had standing to petition to adopt Child?

II. Did the court of appeals err in affirming the family court's grant of the Youngbloods' petition to adopt despite the lack of consent by DSS?

LAW/ANALYSIS

I. STANDING

Standing, a fundamental prerequisite to instituting an action, may exist by statute, through the principles of constitutional standing, or through the public importance exception. Freemantle v. Preston, 398 S.C. 186, 192, 728 S.E.2d 40, 43 (2012). Statutory standing exists, as the name implies, when a statute confers a right to sue on a party, and determining whether a statute confers standing is an exercise in statutory interpretation. See id. at 194–95, 728 S.E.2d at 44–45;Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env't, 523 U.S. 83, 97 n. 2, 118 S.Ct. 1003, 140 L.Ed.2d 210 (1998) (stating the issue of statutory standing as “whether this plaintiff has a cause of action under the statute”). When no statute confers standing, the elements of constitutional standing must be met.⁵ To possess constitutional standing, first, a party must have suffered an injury-in-fact which is a concrete, particularized, and actual or imminent invasion of a legally protected interest. ATC South, Inc. v. Charleston Cnty., 380 S.C. 191, 195, 669 S.E.2d 337, 339 (2008) (quoting Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992)). Second, a causal connection must exist between the injury and the challenged conduct. Id. Finally, it must be likely that a favorable decision will redress the injury. Id.

First, while the family court found statutory standing pursuant to section 63–9–60, we hold that statute does not give the Youngbloods standing; instead, it specifically deprives them of standing. Section 63–9–60 provides:

(A)(1) Any South Carolina resident may petition the court to adopt a child.

....

(B) This section does not apply to a child placed by the State Department of Social Services or any agency under contract with the department for...