Adoption of AMD, Matter of

• Decision Date: 30 December 1988
• Docket Number: Nos. C-88-4,C-88-5,s. C-88-4
• Citation: 766 P.2d 550
• Parties: In the Matter of the ADOPTION OF AMD, a minor. MVF, Appellant (Petitioner), v. MF, Appellee (Respondent). (Two Cases) In the Matter of the ADOPTION OF ACD, a minor.
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 550

766 P.2d 550

In the Matter of the ADOPTION OF AMD, a minor.

MVF, Appellant (Petitioner), v. MF, Appellee (Respondent). (Two Cases)

In the Matter of the ADOPTION OF ACD, a minor.

Nos. C-88-4, C-88-5.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

Dec. 30, 1988.

Lisa C. Sweeney of Schaefer & Associates, Laramie, for appellant.

Kaye Willis, Laramie, for appellee.

Before CARDINE, C.J., and THOMAS, URBIGKIT, MACY, and GOLDEN, JJ.

CARDINE, Chief Justice.

In these consolidated appeals, appellant MVF seeks review of district court orders denying his motions to vacate adoptions.

We reverse.

Appellant and appellee, his fiance MLD, met in 1986 and began dating in 1987. They cohabitated in her apartment during much of April 1987, and began living together in a shared apartment on April 25, 1987. During April 1987, they became engaged to marry. On May 1, 1987, appellant filed two separate petitions to adopt the two minor children of MLD. MLD is the natural mother of both children. The natural father of one of the two children consented to the adoption, and it was alleged that the father of the other child was unknown. An objection was filed by a person asserting that he was the natural father of the other child, but the objection was not pursued and the adoption proceeded on the basis that the father was unknown.

The petitions for adoption were filed in district court prior to the marriage of the parties. The district court deferred ruling on the petitions until after the planned wedding. Appellant and appellee were married on July 25, 1987. Thereafter a hearing was held and decrees of adoption were entered on August 26, 1987. These decrees purported to be final orders establishing appellant as the adoptive father of appellee's children. Very shortly after entry of the decrees of adoption, the marriage became troubled and, in early October of 1987, appellee and her children moved from his home and began living elsewhere.

On January 14, 1988, appellant filed motions to vacate the adoptions, asserting that the adoptions were finalized without compliance with the procedures set out in W.S. 1-22-111, that it was in the best interests of the children to vacate the adoptions, and that appellant's consent to adopt the children had been obtained by material misrepresentation. The district court found that appellant was estopped from challenging the validity of the adoptions because he had invoked the jurisdiction of the court, that he had failed to demonstrate material misrepresentation, and that it was in the best interests of the children that the adoptions be affirmed.

In this appeal, appellant asserts that the district court's failure to ensure compliance with W.S. 1-22-111 is fatal to the validity of the adoptions and that he should not be estopped from asserting noncompliance with that statute. Appellant also pursues his claim that the adoptions were procured by fraud or undue influence, but we need not address that issue because we resolve this case on the basis of noncompliance with the governing statutes.

Adoption was unknown at common law and, therefore, adoption statutes are to be strictly construed. In re Adoption of MM, 652 P.2d 974, 979 (Wyo.1982). Moreover, adoption is entirely statutory, and the proceedings must be conducted in substantial conformity with the provisions of the statute. In re Adoption of Strauser, 65 Wyo. 98, 196 P.2d 862, 866 (1948). In the Strauser case, this court noted that consent lies at the foundation of statutes of adoption and that the first duty of the judge is to see that all necessary consents are given. The court then continued: "If they are not, the proceeding is at an end. There is nothing for the judge to approve." (Emphasis added.) Id. 196 P.2d at 867. The principle enunciated in Strauser applies here. We are, therefore, concerned with the consent of the adopting parent as well as compliance with W.S. 1-22-111, which provides:

"(a) After the petition to adopt has been filed and a hearing held the court acting in the best interest and welfare of the child may make any of the following orders:

"(i) Enter an interlocutory decree of adoption giving the care and custody of the child to the petitioners pending further order of the court;

"(ii) Defer entry of an interlocutory decree of adoption and order the division of public assistance and social services within the department of health and social services or a private licensed agency to investigate and report to the court the background of the child and of the petitioners, and the medical, social and psychological background and status of the consenting parent and putative father. After a written report of the investigation is filed, the court shall determine if the adoption by petitioners is in the best interest and welfare of the child and thereupon enter the appropriate order or decree;

"(iii) Enter a final decree of adoption if the child has resided in the home of the petitioner for six (6) months; or

"(iv) Deny the adoption if the court finds that the best interests and welfare of the child will be served by such denial.

"(b) If the court denies the adoption it shall make an order for proper custody consistent with the best interest and welfare of the child."

W.S. 1-22-111(a) gives the district court four options. The only option the court could not have used was entry of a final decree of adoption as provided in (iii), for it is undisputed that at the time the decrees of adoption were entered on August 26, 1987, the children had not resided in the home of appellant for six months. Clearly, the district court did not defer entry of an interlocutory decree, which was option (ii), or deny the adoption, which was option (iv). We thus conclude that the August 26, 1987 decrees could only be interlocutory decrees described in option (i). Indeed, the court recognized this potential interpretation in his reasoning denying appellant relief. After premising its decision on the theory that appellant, having invoked the jurisdiction of the court, was estopped from challenging the validity of the adoptions, the district court said:

"If the Supreme Court were to say, you're incorrect on the estoppel issue and remanded for further proceedings, the Court then would be inclined, based on the findings that I have made here, to enter a final Decree of Adoption and treat the previous Decree as an interlocutory Decree." (Emphasis added.)

We agree that the August 26, 1987 decrees of adoption were interlocutory because it is undisputed that on August 26, 1987, the children had not resided in the home of petitioner for six months as required for entry of a final decree of adoption. A final decree of adoption thereafter could only be entered after the expiration of the six-month period in accordance with W.S. 1-22-112, which provides:

"(a) If an interlocutory decree has been entered petitioners may apply for a final decree of adoption after the child has resided in the home of the petitioners for six (6) months and a hearing on the petition may be required."

The interlocutory decrees give only care and custody of the children to petitioners pending further order of the court. It is not a decree of adoption. The adoption can result only upon application of appellant for final decrees of adoption as required by W.S. 1-22-112(a). Failing such an application, the district court cannot, under these statutes which are clear and unambiguous and which must be strictly construed, enter final decrees of adoption.

The only question now remaining for our determination is whether an interlocutory decree can, by estoppel, become a final decree of adoption. As a preface to a consideration of what role estoppel should play in this case, we note that a fundamental consideration in all adoptions is the best interests and welfare of the affected children. This consideration is found in the statutes, and one can hardly find an adoption case that does not, in some place, use that phraseology. In this case, one of the findings of the district court in applying principles of estoppel was that the best interests of the children warranted entry of final decrees of adoption. But this puts the cart before the horse. The...