Adoption of Baby Boy W., In re, WD

• Decision Date: 29 October 1985
• Docket Number: No. WD,WD
• Parties: In re ADOPTION OF BABY BOY W. Keith C. WEISE and Connie S. Weise, Petitioners, v. W. and P., Respondents. 36664.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 534

701 S.W.2d 534

In re ADOPTION OF BABY BOY W.

Keith C. WEISE and Connie S. Weise, Petitioners, v. W. and P., Respondents.

No. WD 36664.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Western District.

Oct. 29, 1985.

As Modified Dec. 3, 1985.

Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer

to Supreme Court Overruled and Denied Dec. 3, 1985.

Joseph P. Teasdale, Kansas City, Joseph J. Simeone, St. Louis, for petitioners.

William A. Shull III, Warrensburg, for respondents.

Gabriel A. Domjan, Harrisonville, Guardian Ad Litem for Baby Boy W.

Before DIXON, P.J., and SOMERVILLE and NUGENT, JJ.

DIXON, Presiding Judge.

This is an adoption proceeding. Petitioners, Mr. and Mrs. Keith Weise, appeal from the hearing court's findings which, in effect, denied petitioners an order transferring legal custody of the child in question to them. Petitioners have had physical custody of the child since five days after his birth, February 24, 1983. Their filing of a 2-count petition for the transfer of custody and adoption of the child initiated these proceedings.

Petitioners claim the circuit court erred in finding that: 1) the natural mother withdrew and renounced her "consent for adoption and voluntary termination of parental rights"; 2) the putative father did not abandon or neglect the child and retains his parental rights; and 3) the Interstate Compact on Placement of Children, § 210.620 RSMo 1978, was not complied with, thereby making the child's presence in Missouri illegal and improper. The child was born in and petitioners received actual custody from the mother in White County, Indiana.

In the summer of 1982, P., single, 18, and between her sophomore and junior years of high school, discovered she was pregnant. The father of the child was W., a 29-year-old man. P. lived with her father, Frank, and her step-mother, Lorraine, at the time of her pregnancy. Their household was in strained financial circumstances.

P. considered an abortion but could not afford one. A welfare representative discussed her options with her. Meanwhile, in September, Lorraine learned through a co-worker that "a Missouri couple" was interested in adopting a child, and she told the co-worker about P.'s pregnancy. The co-worker gave the information to the Missouri couple and suggested they contact the parents of P. On the day Mrs. Weise received the information, she contacted an attorney in Kansas City, John Barry, to see if such an adoption "was legal." Barry assured her it was. Mrs. Weise then called the telephone number sent to her by Lorraine's co-worker and spoke to Lorraine and Frank. Mrs. Weise did not reveal her name to Lorraine and Frank and told them at that time that any further contact with them would be made through an attorney.

Barry then contacted an attorney in Indiana, George Wildman. Barry advised Wildman that Barry had clients interested in adopting P.'s baby. Wildman contacted P. and her family, and P. came with her parents to his office on September 20, 1982. Wildman states in his deposition that although Lorraine probably did most of the talking, P. did tell him that she was in school and wanted to continue her education, that she did not feel she would be in any position to care for the child, and that the father, W., was denying paternity. She wanted to consent to the adoption. Wildman explained to P. and her family that the adopting couple would take care of the "medical expenses and any expenses that would be associated with the pregnancy." On September 28, 1982, P. began seeing a Dr. David Shapiro for her prenatal care.

On November 16, 1982, P. signed a consent for adoption and voluntary termination of parental rights form in Wildman's office in the presence of Lorraine and Wildman's secretary. The secretary states P. had a positive attitude about the adoption and seemed sure about what she was doing.

On December 8, 1982, Wildman sent a registered letter to W. and enclosed a consent to adopt. Wildman was interested in knowing W.'s position on the paternity of the child. He received no response from W., however, a sister of W., N.L., did call Wildman's office. His secretary made the following memorandum of the call.

12-9-82

Re: W. adoption

W.'s sister called wanting to know if W. could sign consent after baby was born. He said if the baby was his, if it could be proven, that he wanted the baby. He told P. that he would marry her if the baby was his. If she didn't want it, he would take it if the courts would let him have it.

The sister called the office at least one other time to inquire about the proceedings. W., himself, never called Wildman's office.

On January 28, 1983, Wildman filed an adoption petition in the State of Indiana and had a notice issued to W. This petition was never acted upon, however, and was ultimately dismissed on March 28, 1983.

On February 24, 1983, P. gave birth to a male child. The next day, Wildman visited her in the hospital to obtain a post-birth consent for adoption. P. was quiet and had tears in her eyes. Wildman states in his deposition that he told her, "P., if you have any feelings about this adoption, that you don't want to consent to it, and you want me to leave the room I'll go and you don't need to say any more, all you have to do is say 'Would you please leave' and I'll leave." P. told him not to leave and asked to see the consent. She read it. The consent read "female child" rather than "male child." The appropriate change was made, and P. initialed the change. Wildman read the consent aloud to her and asked if she was sure she wanted to sign it. She was. A notary was procured and P. signed the consent. Except for any glimpse she may have caught in the delivery room, P. never saw the child. On March 1, 1983, Mr. and Mrs. Weise picked the child up at the hospital and brought him to Missouri.

Wildman said that he always felt certain P.'s actions were voluntary and that she knew she was under no obligation to sign the consent. He dealt with both the Indiana and Missouri Interstate Compact offices regarding procedures and forms required in arranging the transfer. P. executed and signed all the applications the states require for taking a child from one state to another. Wildman filed in Indiana everything he filed in Missouri. There was some contact between the two states, but it was Wildman's impression that Indiana was "content to allow Missouri to call the shots as to what documents were required." Mr. and Mrs. Weise picked up the child at the hospital and took him to Missouri pursuant to the documents that P. had executed and the information that was turned over to the interstate agencies.

On March 2, 1983, W. filed a petition in Indiana to establish paternity of the child.

On March 16th a petition for transfer of custody and adoption was filed by petitioners in Cass County, Missouri, and a summons was issued to W.

On April 13, 1983, P. answered and joined in W.'s Indiana petition to establish paternity, custody, and child support. On that same day, the White County, Indiana Circuit Court issued an order declaring W. the child's father, declaring the child's name as C.W.W., ordering W. to pay $15.00 per week in child support to the Clerk of White County Circuit Court, giving P. custody of the child, and granting W. reasonable visitation rights. The order was entered without presentation of evidence or the presence of the parties. The court was not informed the child was outside the state in the custody of Mr. and Mrs. Weise, nor was it informed of the mother's consent to adoption, the proceedings under the Interstate Compact, or the proceedings pending in Missouri.

A motion for a continuance of the Missouri adoption proceeding was filed on that same day in Cass County, Missouri, on behalf of P. and W.

On April 22, 1983, P. filed a motion in the Missouri adoption for leave of court to revoke her consent to transfer of custody on the ground that her signing of the consent was "involuntary, non volitional and completely against [her will]; ... caused by extreme pressure, duress, and coercion from [her] parents and under threats of illegal and improper action by them and against [her]."

On June 30, 1983, respondents moved the court to set for trial Count I of the Weises' petition for custody and adoption and respondents' motion for leave of court to revoke consent to transfer of custody. On December 20, Gabriel Domjam was appointed guardian ad litem for the infant.

On December 21, 1983, the parties appeared and evidence was presented.

At the hearing, P. testified she had always wanted to keep her child. It was her parents and especially Lorraine who kept telling her that she had to give the child up because the family could not afford him. Her father once said "that he would beat the crap out of W." if she didn't sign the papers and if he ever caught W. talking to her, but she admits her father never threatened her personally. She had heard from other people that W. was denying the child was his but that didn't matter to her, she still wanted the child. She only signed the second consent because of her father's threat against W., her parents' refusal to support her, and because Lorraine kept saying, "Well, it's too late now. You can't change your mind now...." When she signed the consent she did not understand that that might keep her from ever seeing her child again.

She moved out of her parents' house "a day or so" after leaving the hospital so she could "fight for" her baby, and moved in with W.'s married sister, a mother of four. However, she acknowledged that she signed the Joinder in Petition to Establish Paternity, Custody, and Child Support about the time she moved out of her parents' home and that document was dated April 13, over a month after the child's birth.

Next Mrs. Weise testified. She explained how the connection with P. was made, and acknowledged that Lorraine was "real" concerned about hospital bills. Mrs. Weise and her husband had thought the adoption...