In re Adoption of BBD

• Decision Date: 22 July 1999
• Docket Number: No. 980053.,980053.
• Citation: 1999 UT 70,984 P.2d 967
• Parties: In the Matter of the ADOPTION OF B.B.D., a minor. C.F., Appellant and Petitioner, v. D.D. and M.D., Appellees and Respondents.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

984 P.2d 967

1999 UT 70

In the Matter of the ADOPTION OF B.B.D., a minor.

C.F., Appellant and Petitioner, v. D.D. and M.D., Appellees and Respondents.

No. 980053.

Supreme Court of Utah.

July 22, 1999.

D. Bruce Oliver, Salt Lake City, for petitioner.

David M. McConkie, Merrill F. Nelson, Salt Lake City, for respondents.

On Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeals

HOWE, Chief Justice:

INTRODUCTION

¶1 We granted certiorari to review an unpublished court of appeals opinion which affirmed the district court's decree of adoption.

BACKGROUND

¶2 In December 1995, K.D. and C.F., both residents of Washington State, began dating. Shortly thereafter, they began a sexual relationship, and in February 1996, K.D. learned that she was pregnant. She began regular visits with her physician and she and C.F. began discussing options regarding their unborn child's future. One option included placing the child for adoption with K.D.'s brother and sister-in-law, who resided in American Fork, Utah.

¶3 K.D. and C.F. ended their relationship in August 1996. About this same time, K.D. informed C.F. that she had consulted with lawyers in both Utah and Washington regarding placing their child for adoption. C.F. expressed his opposition to that proposal. On or about October 1, 1996, K.D. informed C.F. that she was flying to Utah to stay with her brother and sister-in-law, to give birth, and to place the child with them for adoption. On October 7, C.F. telephoned K.D. to express his opposition to the planned adoption. Later that day, C.F. went to the Division of Social and Health Services (DSHS) in Bellingham, Washington, in an attempt to establish paternity by registration. However, agents of DSHS informed C.F. that he could not establish paternity until after the child's birth.

¶4 K.D. arrived in Utah on or about October 10. Before giving birth, K.D. and C.F. had several telephone conversations regarding the child's future. In these conversations, K.D. continued to express her desire to place the baby for adoption; C.F. maintained his opposition.

¶5 On October 25, the child B.B.D. was born at the American Fork Hospital in American Fork, Utah. On October 28, in district court, K.D. signed her consent to the adoption, relinquished her parental rights, and placed the child with the adoptive parents. That same day, the adoptive parents filed their verified petition to adopt.

¶6 C.F. learned of the adoption proceedings on November 8, and on November 11, he went to the Domestic Relations Division in Washington to fill out a paternity questionnaire. Shortly thereafter, he received notice from the Division that it lacked jurisdiction over the child because the child was in Utah. C.F. did not file a paternity action in either Washington or Utah.

¶7 On November 26, C.F. filed a letter of opposition to the adoption proceeding with the district court, and on December 20, he filed an "Answer and Counterclaim" for custody of the child. The adoptive parents filed a motion to dismiss the answer and counterclaim under rule 12(b) which was treated as a motion for summary judgment under rule 56 of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure. C.F. responded with his own motion for summary judgment, including various other papers, memoranda, affidavits, and exhibits.

¶8 The district court ruled that because C.F. had failed to follow Utah's statutory scheme for establishing paternity, he had no legal standing to contest the child's adoption. On April 29, 1997, the court entered a final order and decree of adoption.

¶9 C.F. appealed and the Utah Court of Appeals, in an unpublished opinion, affirmed the district court's decree. It held that C.F. "failed to meet any of the requirements for notice or consent [to an adoption proceeding]," and because he failed to file "a paternity action or notice of paternity in Utah, [h]e is therefore statutorily precluded from maintaining any action to assert any interest in the child." We granted certiorari to review that decision.

ANALYSIS

I. CONSTITUTIONAL CLAIMS

A. Parental Rights

¶10 C.F. contends that his parental rights are protected by the constitution and cannot be terminated without a showing of unfitness. However, C.F. errs in that contention. While it is true that the relationship between parent and child is afforded some protection by the federal and state constitutions, see Wells v. Children's Aid Soc'y, 681 P.2d 199, 202 (Utah 1984), the rights of parents are commensurate with the responsibilities they have assumed, and in the case of unmarried fathers, a biological relationship alone is insufficient to establish constitutionally protected parental rights. See Lehr v. Robertson, 463 U.S. 248, 257-60, 103 S.Ct. 2985, 77 L.Ed.2d 614 (1983).

¶11 Under Utah law, "an unmarried biological father has an inchoate interest that acquires constitutional protection only when he demonstrates a timely and full commitment to the responsibilities of parenthood, both during pregnancy and upon the child's birth." Utah Code Ann. § 78-30-4.12(2)(e) (1996). An unmarried father demonstrates his commitment to the responsibilities of parenthood "by providing appropriate medical care and financial support, and by establishing legal paternity, in accordance with the requirements of [Utah law]." Id. (emphasis added). If an unmarried father fails to adhere to these requirements, including taking the necessary steps to establish paternity, "his biological parental interest may be lost entirely, or greatly diminished in constitutional significance by his failure to timely exercise it, or by his failure to strictly comply with the available legal steps to substantiate it." Id. § 78-30-4.12(3)(b) (emphasis added).

¶12 C.F. failed to take any of the legal steps necessary to protect his parental rights. Specifically, he failed to make any attempt to establish legal paternity under the provisions of Utah law. We conclude, therefore, that he has lost any parental right or interest to B.B.D.

B. Due Process

¶13 C.F. contends that section 78-30-4.13 denied him due process of law because he had no opportunity to object to his biological child's adoption proceeding. This contention lacks merit and has been thoroughly addressed in existing case law.

¶14 The state of Utah has a "compelling interest" in the adoption process. Utah Code Ann. § 78-30-4.12(2)(a) (1996). It has therefore enacted strict laws which are designed to provide "stable and permanent homes for adoptive children in a prompt manner" and to prevent "the disruption of adoptive placements." Id. The state is charged with the responsibility to see "that the rights and interests of all parties affected by an adoption proceeding [are] considered and balanced in determining what constitutional protections and processes are necessary and appropriate." Id. § 78-30-4.12(1) (1996).

¶15 The state has identified the rights of an unmarried mother. The unmarried mother, because she is

faced with the responsibility of making crucial decisions about the future of a newborn child, is entitled to privacy, and has the right to make timely and appropriate decisions regarding her future and the future of the child, and is entitled to assurance regarding the permanence of an adoptive placement.

Id. § 78-30-4.12(2)(b). An unmarried father, on the other hand, "by virtue of the fact that he has engaged in a sexual relationship with a woman, is deemed to be on notice that a pregnancy and an adoption proceeding regarding that child may occur." Id. § 78-30-4.13(1). Because he is deemed to be on notice, it becomes his responsibility to protect his own rights of notice and consent according to the requirements of section 78-30-4.13 to -4.15. An unmarried father is "entitled to actual notice of a birth or adoption proceeding with regard to [his] child only as provided in [section 78-30-4.13]." This section states:

(2) Notice of an adoption proceeding shall be served on each of the following persons:

(a) any person or agency whose consent or relinquishment is required under Section 78-30-4.14 unless that right has been terminated by waiving relinquishment, consent, or judicial action;

(b) any person who has initiated a paternity proceeding and filed notice of that action with the state registrar of vital statistics within the Department of Health, in accordance with Subsection (3);

(c) any legally appointed custodian or guardian of the adoptee;

(d) the petitioner's spouse, if any, only if he has not joined in the petition;

(e) the adoptee's spouse, if any;

(f) any person who is recorded on the birth certificate as the child's father, with the knowledge and consent of the mother;

(g) any person who is openly living in the same household with the child at the time the consent is executed or relinquishment made, and who is holding himself out to be the child's father; and

(h) any person who is married to the child's mother at the time she executes her consent to the adoption or relinquishes the child for adoption.

Utah Code Ann. § 78-30-4.13(2)(a)-(h). Additionally, an unmarried father, "[i]n order to preserve any right to notice and consent, ... may initiate proceedings to establish paternity." Id. at § 78-30-4.13(3)(a).

¶16 To preserve his right of consent to or relinquishment for adoption, an unmarried father must have manifested his full commitment to parental responsibilities by:

(i) initiat[ing] proceedings to establish paternity ... and file with that court a sworn affidavit stating that he is fully able and willing to have full custody of the child, setting forth his plans for care of the child, and agreeing to a court order of child support and the payment of expenses incurred in connection with the mother's pregnancy and the child's birth;

(ii) fil[ing] notice of the commencement of paternity proceedings with the state registrar of vital statistics within the Department of Health, in a confidential registry established by the department for that purpose; and

(iii) if he had actual knowledge

...