In re Adoption H.N.R., 2014–2201.

• Decision Date: 31 December 2015
• Docket Number: No. 2014–2201.,2014–2201.
• Citation: 47 N.E.3d 803,145 Ohio St.3d 144,2015 Ohio 5476
• Parties: In re ADOPTION OF H.N.R.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

145 Ohio St.3d 144

47 N.E.3d 803

2015 Ohio 5476

In re ADOPTION OF H.N.R.

No. 2014–2201.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted June 24, 2015.

Decided Dec. 31, 2015.

Erik L. Smith, for appellant.

Voorhees & Levy, L.L.C., and Michael R. Voorhees, Cincinnati, for appellees.

Susan Garner Eisenman, Columbus, urging affirmance for amicus curiae, American Academy of Adoption Attorneys.

O'CONNOR, C.J.

{¶ 1} Appellant, C.S.M., brings an as-applied challenge to the constitutionality of an aspect of Ohio's Putative Father Registry ("OPFR") that limits the time frame during which a man can register as a putative father in order to gain a right to receive notice of any subsequent adoption proceedings involving the man's putative child. See R.C. 3107.07(B)(1) and 3107.062. C.S.M. argues that the deadline—30 days after the child's birth in the version of the law that applied to C.S.M., since reduced by the legislature to 15 days—is unconstitutional as applied to the putative fathers of children who are relinquished for adoption more than 30 days after birth. He argues that putative fathers have a due-process right to the opportunity to register with the OPFR at any point prior to the initiation of a child's adoption proceedings and that the 30–day deadline arbitrarily curtails this right.

{¶ 2} Although the legislative policy behind the 30–day deadline gives us pause, C.S.M. failed to utilize any of the legal processes available to secure his rights as a putative or legal father at any point prior to the initiation of H.N.R.'s adoption proceedings. He therefore is outside the class of persons he alleges are prejudiced by the statutory limitation. Because C.S.M. cannot demonstrate that he was injured by the application of the statutory putative-father-registration deadline, we affirm the judgment of the Second District Court of Appeals.

RELEVANT BACKGROUND

{¶ 3} H.N.R. was born on August 29, 2013, at a hospital in Huntington, West Virginia.¹ No father is listed on H.N.R.'s birth certificate. The mother and H.N.R. resided in Chesapeake, Ohio, and C.S.M. resided in West Virginia. On September 17, 2013, both the mother and C.S.M. submitted to a DNA test, which indicated a 99.99 percent probability that C.S.M. was H.N.R.'s biological father.

{¶ 4} The mother signed a permanent surrender of H.N.R. to an adoption agency in January 2014. On January 16, 2014, the agency submitted an application to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services ("ODJFS") to search the Ohio Putative Father Registry. ODJFS searched the registry and verified that no putative father was registered in relation to H.N.R. or the mother.

{¶ 5} On February 11, 2014, in the Greene County Probate Court, prospective adoptive parents filed a petition to adopt H.N.R. The social- and medical-history form filed with the adoption petition provided some basic physical attributes of the unnamed father, but all other details about the father were marked "don't know." The ODJFS Prefinalization Adoption Assessment Report, filed in June 2014, stated that the unnamed father "was aware of the pregnancy but chose not to participate in making an adoption plan. He did not provide emotional, financial or physical support to the birthmother [sic] during the pregnancy or the first four months of [H.N.R.]'s life * * *."

{¶ 6} Approximately two months after the petition to adopt H.N.R. was filed, C.S.M. filed complaints for custody with the Greene and Lawrence County Juvenile Courts, and on April 25, 2014, he filed a motion to intervene as a necessary party to H.N.R.'s adoption proceedings in the Greene County Probate Court. C.S.M. asserted that his consent for H.N.R.'s adoption was required because he is the biological father and because the mother secretly relinquished the child for adoption despite knowing the father's identity and whereabouts. He further asserted that the probate court was obligated to defer to the juvenile court on the issue of H.N.R.'s parentage and that the adoption proceedings therefore must be stayed pending the resolution of C.S.M.'s custody complaint. The probate court stayed the adoption case, and the prospective adoptive parents filed a motion for a protective order, to remove the stay, to strike or deny the motion to intervene, and to enter a judgment finding that C.S.M.'s consent to the adoption was not required.

{¶ 7} The probate court held a hearing to allow the parties to further explain their legal positions on C.S.M.'s standing and the significance of his juvenile-court filings. The parties primarily debated whether it was the identity of the court or instead the timing of the parties' filings that determined which court—probate or juvenile—could properly exercise jurisdiction over a child's parentage and adoption proceedings pursuant to In re Adoption of Asente, 90 Ohio St.3d 91, 734 N.E.2d 1224 (2000), In re Adoption of Pushcar, 110 Ohio St.3d 332, 2006-Ohio-4572, 853 N.E.2d 647, and In re Adoption of G.V., 126 Ohio St.3d 249, 2010-Ohio-3349, 933 N.E.2d 245.

{¶ 8} Notably, C.S.M. also raised a new argument at the hearing disputing the fairness of requiring his compliance with the OPFR deadline in order to qualify for notice of H.N.R.'s adoption proceedings. Over the prospective adoptive parents' objection, C.S.M. took the stand to explain why he had not registered as a putative father.

{¶ 9} C.S.M. stated that he had been in a relationship with the mother throughout the pregnancy and was present at the hospital for H.N.R.'s birth. However, C.S.M. accused the mother of having had sexual relations with other men, and she agreed to the DNA test that later confirmed that C.S.M. was H.N.R.'s biological father. C.S.M. stated that he then saw no need to register as a putative father because he already knew that H.N.R. was his biological child and he believed that he and the mother would get married.

{¶ 10} C.S.M. alleged that during the first four months of H.N.R.'s life, he spent time with the child "[p]robably once every couple of weeks." C.S.M. alleged that during the next two months he had no contact with the child because the mother would not answer the door when C.S.M. came to her house. C.S.M. stated that at some point during or after this two-month period, the mother allegedly told C.S.M. that H.N.R. was dead. Eventually, the mother informed C.S.M. that she had given H.N.R. up for adoption. C.S.M. obtained counsel and filed custody actions, but by that point, adoption proceedings were already pending.

{¶ 11} The prospective adoptive parents moved the trial court to strike C.S.M.'s testimony, and because they believed that C.S.M. should not have been permitted to testify at the hearing, they declined cross-examination. Alternatively, they moved to schedule an evidentiary hearing in order to allow both sides to appropriately present evidence regarding the actions of the mother and C.S.M. prior to the initiation of adoption proceedings. The trial court noted that C.S.M.'s testimony might not be relevant to the legal issues to be decided and assured the adoptive parents that an additional hearing would be held if the court were to later decide that the testimony was relevant. The trial court offered the parties the opportunity to submit posthearing briefs, but only the prospective adoptive parents did so.

{¶ 12} The trial court entered judgment denying all relief requested by C.S.M. and ordering that the adoption proceedings should continue without his participation. The trial court determined that pursuant to Asente, the sequence of filing events was dispositive, and because the adoption petition was the first action filed regarding H.N.R., the probate court had exclusive jurisdiction that was not affected by C.S.M.'s later-filed custody actions in the juvenile courts. Next, the trial court held that C.S.M. did not have standing to intervene in the adoption proceedings, as he had admittedly failed to register as a putative father as described in R.C. 3107.07(B)(1) and failed to timely pursue the various alternative legal avenues to establish a parent-child relationship provided by the legislature in R.C. 3111.02(A). The trial court acknowledged that C.S.M. had raised a general argument that the inability to intervene violated his constitutional rights, but because C.S.M. had offered no legal authority in support of that argument, the trial court rejected it.

{¶ 13} In C.S.M.'s appeal to the Second District Court of Appeals, his arguments focused solely on R.C. 3107.07(B)(1). He asserted that the statute violated due process as applied to fathers who are too distracted with the care of their newborn children and the children's mothers during the first 30 days of the children's lives to be expected to consider the need for legal protections. He contended that the 30–day–post–birth registration deadline of R.C. 3107.07(B)(1) arbitrarily deprived him of the opportunity to register as a putative father at any point up to the filing of the adoption petition. C.S.M. additionally argued that the state's failure to promote awareness of the OPFR created an exception to the maxim that ignorance of the law excuses no one and that his ignorance of the OPFR was instead a ground for relief.

{¶ 14} The appellate court overruled C.S.M.'s awareness-promotion argument on the ground of waiver. To the extent that C.S.M. intimated that his substantive due-process rights were violated by R.C. 3107.07(B)(1) because he had a fully established parent-child relationship with H.N.R., the court rejected his argument as unsupported by C.S.M.'s own factual allegations. Finally, the court noted that C.S.M.'s more specific procedural argument against R.C. 3107.07(B)(1) would have no effect on his case because he has made no effort to protect his legal rights until after the adoption petition had already been filed. The appellate court therefore affirmed the trial court's rulings that C.S.M. was not entitled to notice of H.N.R.'s adoption proceedings and that his consent was not required for the...