In re Adoption of KJD

• Decision Date: 14 February 2002
• Citation: 41 P.3d 522,2002 WY 26
• Parties: In the Matter of the ADOPTION OF KJD, minor child. MTM, Appellant (Respondent), v. LD and ED, Appellees (Petitioners).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

41 P.3d 522

2002 WY 26

In the Matter of the ADOPTION OF KJD, minor child.

MTM, Appellant (Respondent), v. LD and ED, Appellees (Petitioners).

No. C-01-2.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

February 14, 2002.

MTM, Pro Se, Representing Appellant.

Hardy H. Tate, Sheridan, WY, Representing Appellees.

Before LEHMAN, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, KITE, and VOIGT, JJ.

VOIGT, Justice.

[¶ 1] Acting pro se, MTM (the father) appeals from an adoption without consent that terminated his parental rights to his daughter, KJD. The adoptive parents, appellees LD and ED, are KJD's maternal grandparents.¹ The child's mother, KAD (the mother), is deceased. Finding no abuse of discretion by the district court, we affirm the Final Decree of Adoption entered pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-22-110(a)(v) (LexisNexis 2001).²

ISSUES

[¶ 2] As appellant, the father's issues for review are not particularly well defined. However, it is clear that he desires:

1. A jury trial concerning his parental rights.

2. A conflict of interest to be found in the grandparents' counsel taking part in the proceeding while counsel also served as a court magistrate.

3. Reversal of the Final Decree of Adoption.

[¶ 3] The appellees (the grandparents) phrase the issues as:

1. Did the district court err or abuse its discretion in determining that clear and convincing evidence was presented to satisfy the statutory elements required to permit an adoption without consent of the parent or putative father under Wyoming Statute § 1-22-110(a)(v).

2. Did the district court err by denying appellant's demand for a jury trial.

3. Did a conflict of interest exist or was a Wyoming court rule violated by virtue of appellees' attorney serving as a court magistrate or court commissioner.

FACTS

[¶ 4] This appeal constitutes one more chapter in a saga that has been ongoing since 1992, involving the father, the Natrona County and the Sheridan County Departments of Family Services (DFS),³ the minor child KJD, and the grandparents. KJD was born on November 27, 1987, in Birmingham, Alabama, and resided with her parents in Clanton, Alabama, until May 1992. Her father was arrested in May 1992 for possession of marijuana. Shortly thereafter, her mother packed up her and KJD's belongings, and she and KJD left the state. They were in Baltimore, Maryland, for a short period of time, and then made their way to Wyoming where the mother's father and brother lived.

[¶ 5] During the four years KJD lived in Alabama with her parents, she remembers that her mother was often intoxicated and her father smoked marijuana. She testified that her father once tied up her mother, abusing and hitting her. After an abuse/neglect report was filed in January 1988, the Alabama Family Services Department became involved with the family. There were five reports concerning KJD as of February 1992. The last two reports, received in February 1991 and February 1992, alleged that the father had physically abused and neglected KJD; however, the record does not indicate whether the abuse or neglect was substantiated or adjudicated.

[¶ 6] The mother was incarcerated in Casper for public intoxication in May 1992. After a juvenile court hearing on June 2, 1992, KJD was placed in protective custody with DFS.⁴ Subsequently, the mother worked on her sobriety and tried to achieve the case plan goals developed for her by DFS. DFS provided the mother with psychological treatment, alcohol treatment, and allowed her visitation with KJD. The mother moved into a facility in Casper for mothers and children, where she continued her treatment. She was able to stay sober for two months at a time, and came close to family reunification, but she would begin drinking again and reunification would not occur.

[¶ 7] The father began his involvement with DFS in January 1993, after he learned that KJD had been placed in DFS' protective custody. He called DFS from Alabama stating his intention to regain custody of KJD. The mother had advised DFS that she did not know who KJD's father was, and no father's name was listed on KJD's birth certificate.⁵ A DFS worker explained to the father that a home study on his Alabama residence would be necessary before placement could be made. In compliance with the Interstate Compact for Placement of Children (ICPC), DFS initiated a home study on the father's Alabama residence on March 1, 1993.

[¶ 8] The father hitchhiked from Alabama to Casper in March 1993. He lived at the Central Wyoming Rescue Mission for several weeks, and again contacted DFS concerning custody of KJD. He then moved into a tent at his place of employment, and DFS conducted a home study on this residence. The mother informed DFS that the father had abused her and KJD, and she did not want KJD placed with the father. DFS again discussed with the father the steps he would need to take in order to gain custody of KJD, but he was uncooperative and failed to follow through on all except one of the recommendations.⁶

[¶ 9] DFS contacted KJD's maternal grandparents in the summer of 1993, and they agreed to have a home study conducted for possible placement of KJD with them. In August 1993, the mother moved to Sheridan to live with LD and ED. On October 5, 1993, DFS completed its home study on the father and denied placement of KJD with him because of his living environment—a tent rather than a single-family dwelling. DFS completed its home study on the grandparents on September 22, 1993, and placed KJD with them on October 8, 1993. DFS received the ICPC home study regarding the Alabama residence on October 20, 1993, and placement was denied because the father no longer lived there.

[¶ 10] The father continued to live in Casper from October 1993 to June 1994, but he had minimal contact with DFS. He remained homeless, did not provide DFS with a phone number or address where he could be reached, did not attend individual and family counseling as recommended by DFS, and did not obtain any long-term employment, even though he was working odd jobs at this time. The father did contact DFS for visitation with KJD, and he was allowed to see KJD in a supervised setting on a regular basis, one time per week for two hours.

[¶ 11] KJD began counseling during this time at the Northern Wyoming Mental Health Center, as her step-grandmother felt KJD was exhibiting upsetting behaviors. KJD's counselor indicated that her "acting out" was related to visits with her father, and was attributable to anxiety stemming from things her father said to her as well as her fear of being forced to move to Alabama with him. The father moved to Sheridan in June of 1994 to be closer to KJD. There were reports that he lived under a bridge, but he told DFS that he lived in a van next to his place of employment. Meanwhile, the mother returned to Casper as she could not maintain her sobriety, which was a condition of living in her father's home in Sheridan. She was subsequently killed in a pedestrian/motor vehicle accident in September 1995.

[¶ 12] On September 15, 1994, DFS met with the father to develop a case plan for reunification with KJD. The plan included, among other things, that the father would attend parenting classes, attend individual and family counseling, continue to have supervised visits with KJD, obtain suitable housing for himself and KJD, and obtain suitable employment and adequate income to support them both. The father stated in this meeting he intended that his employment would consist of suing three DFS workers for five million dollars each, and one worker for ten million dollars; the father felt that both he and KJD would be able to live adequately off these lawsuits. The father did not sign this or any subsequent case plan developed by DFS to reunify him with his daughter.

[¶ 13] A review of the case plan, with the continued goal of reunification, was made and the plan was updated on July 16, 1996, because KJD was becoming upset by her visits with her father. He gave her a hard time for taking medication for her attention deficit disorder, he came to the visits in an unkempt condition, and he was disrespectful with DFS and Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) workers. The short-term goal for the father in the updated case plan was to make visitations with KJD more positive and enjoyable by not making any inappropriate comments to her. It also included that the father would pay child support in the amount of fifty dollars per month, beginning August 1, 1996.

[¶ 14] Another review of the case plan was undertaken on June 30, 1997. The goal continued to be reunification, but first the father had to develop a better relationship with KJD. DFS indicated that it would pay up to fifty-five dollars per hour for counseling for the father, but it would require monthly reports from his therapist regarding his counseling efforts. The plan stated again that the father was to pay fifty dollars per month child support. Furthermore, he was to follow the guidelines, which were essentially the same as had been set forth in a letter dated May 14, 1997, and which had been sent to his attorney.⁷ It also stated that KJD could request that no visitation take place, and if no progress was evident in three months (by the end of September 1997), DFS would request a court hearing to ask for permanent placement of KJD with the grandparents. The father left for Florida in October 1997 and did not return to Wyoming until July 1998.⁸

[¶ 15] A further review on October 26, 1999, changed the father's visitations to every other week for one hour, which were to be supervised by CASA workers. The father was to be responsible for a five-dollar payment to CASA to supervise each visit, and he was to treat the CASA staff with courtesy and respect. The stated goals for the father were to attend counseling on a weekly basis to develop his parenting skills so that he could appropriately communicate with KJD, to be sensitive to her needs and feelings, and to learn to understand KJD's...