In re CMS

• Decision Date: 06 October 2005
• Citation: 884 A.2d 1284
• Parties: In re: C.M.S., a Minor. Appeal of: D.E.H., Jr., Natural Father.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

884 A.2d 1284

In re: C.M.S., a Minor.

Appeal of: D.E.H., Jr., Natural Father.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted August 22, 2005.

Filed October 6, 2005.

Elizabeth A. Hoffman, Harrisburg, for appellant.

Thomas M. Clark, Dillsburg, Guardian Ad Litem, for appellee.

Mary S. Ramsden, Pittsburgh, for Petitioners.

BEFORE: TODD, MONTEMURO¹ and BECK, JJ.

OPINION BY BECK, J.:

¶ 1 Father appeals the termination of his parental rights, contending that termination does not best serve the needs and welfare of the child and that petitioners/appellees lacked standing to bring the termination petition. We affirm.

¶ 2 The child C.M.S. was born on June 4, 2001 to a twenty-four year old Mother and a thirty-five year old Father, who never married, nor lived together. During her pregnancy, Mother began arranging for her child's adoption, without Father's knowledge or consent. After the birth, Father visited Mother and child one time in the hospital. Immediately after her release from the hospital, three days after the child was born, Mother executed a consent for adoption and placed the child in the care of Carol Starr. Ms. Starr, who was acting as an intermediary for the adoption, then placed the child with petitioners/appellees T.S. and R.S. Ms. Starr was the wife of Mother's pastor, aunt of R.S., and an employee of the attorney handling the adoption. T.S. and R.S. have cared for the child in their home from the time she was a few days old, up to the present.

¶ 3 On May 22, 2002, T.S. and R.S. petitioned for involuntary termination of Father's parental rights.² After a hearing on October 4, 2002, the court denied the petition and refused to terminate Father's parental rights. T.S. and R.S. appealed. A panel of this Court reversed, holding that the trial court abused its discretion in not terminating Father's parental rights pursuant to 23 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 2511(a)(1) and (a)(6).³In re C.M.S., 832 A.2d 457, 464-66 (Pa.Super.2003). With regard to section 2511(a)(1), the panel determined that the "evidence in the record clearly and convincingly established that Father showed a settled purpose of relinquishing his parental right to Child." Id. at 464. While the panel did not condone the deceitful acts of Mother and Ms. Starr in pursuing the adoption without Father's knowledge, it also found that "the evidence in the record supports the conclusion that Father failed to take action to overcome the obstacles" placed in his way. Id. at 463. Father merely voiced his opposition to adoption; he did not exercise "reasonable firmness" in attempting to form a parental bond with his child. Id. at 464. With regard to section 2511(a)(6), the panel cited the following evidence. Although Father was well aware of the child's birth, he "did not reside with the child, had not married Mother, and ... had not made reasonable efforts to maintain substantial and continuing contact with Child or provide financial support for Child." Id. at 465. For all of these reasons, this Court held that the statutory requirements delineated in sections 2511(a)(1) and (a)(6) for termination of parental rights had been satisfied.

¶ 4 Nonetheless, the panel remanded to the trial court to address the effect of termination of Father's parental rights on the "developmental, physical and emotional needs and welfare of [the] Child," pursuant to section 2511(b).⁴ Id. at 465-66. The panel noted that no testimony had been taken concerning the effect of termination of Father's parental rights on the child, and remanded for the narrow purpose of addressing this issue. Id. Father's application for reargument and petition for allowance of appeal were denied. Before the hearing on remand was scheduled, Father filed a motion in orphan's court to dismiss the petition to terminate his parental rights, based on his contention that petitioners/appellees lacked standing. The court denied his motion on December 23, 2004. On February 8, 2005, the court held a hearing to determine if termination of Father's parental rights would best serve the child's needs and welfare. Following the hearing, the court issued an Order terminating Father's parental rights.

¶ 5 Father appeals, raising two questions for review. First, Father contends that the trial court abused its discretion in determining that termination of his parental rights best served the needs and welfare of the child. Second, Father contends that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion to dismiss the termination petition based on lack of petitioners'/appellees' standing.

¶ 6 We first address Father's contention that the evidence did not clearly and convincingly show that termination of his parental rights best served the needs and welfare of the child. In an appeal from an order terminating parental rights our scope of review is broad and comprehensive, but our standard is narrow. We consider all the evidence, along with the legal and factual findings of the trial court. In re M.G., 855 A.2d 68, 73 (Pa.Super.2004). However, we reverse only if we find an abuse of discretion, an error of law, or insufficient evidentiary support. In re C.S., 761 A.2d 1197, 1199 (Pa.Super.2000) (en banc). With respect to evidentiary support, we determine only whether the trial court's findings are supported by competent evidence. In re S.H., 2005 PA Super 260, 879 A.2d 802. We accord the hearing judge's decision the same deference that we would give to a jury verdict. C.S., 761 A.2d at 1199.

¶ 7 An inquiry into whether termination of parental rights would best serve the developmental, physical and emotional needs and welfare of the child is a distinct aspect of a termination hearing, to be undertaken only after the statutory requirements of section 2511(a) have been met. See 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 2511(b); In re Adoption of Charles E.D.M., II, 550 Pa. 595, 602-04, 708 A.2d 88, 92-93 (1998); In re Involuntary Termination of C.W.S.M., 839 A.2d 410, 414 (Pa.Super.2003); In re Adoption of T.B.B., 835 A.2d 387, 397 (Pa.Super.2003); In re B.L.L., 787 A.2d 1007, 1013-14 (Pa.Super.2001). Intangibles such as love, comfort, security, and stability are involved in the inquiry into needs and welfare of the child. T.B.B.,835 A.2d at 397. The court must also discern the nature and status of the parent-child bond, with utmost attention to the effect on the child of permanently severing that bond. Id.

¶ 8 In the case at bar, Father alleges that the court did not consider the effect that the circumstances of the child's placement are likely to have on her emotional well-being in coming years. Specifically, Father predicts emotional and identity problems for the child when she learns of her Father's ignorance of her placement for adoption. Father presented no evidence in support of his prediction. His own brief testimony was the only evidence offered on his behalf at the February 2005 hearing.

¶ 9 In contrast, appellees offered several lines of evidence concerning the best interests of the child. Aside from their own testimony, appellees offered testimony from two expert witnesses: Dr. Shienvold, a licensed psychologist who performed an evaluation of appellees and the child, and Ms. Parkhill, who conducted a home study. Dr. Shienvold described the attachment that the child has to appellees as "very strong, very secure." N.T., 2/8/05, at 12. He testified that it would be in the best interests of the child to remain with appellees, the people to whom she is primarily attached, as young children often have problems when they are separated from their primary attachment figures. Ms. Parkhill testified that appellees' home is completely appropriate for raising the child, as it has been set up to be child friendly and to prompt creativity in the child's play.

¶ 10 The court concluded that the child is in a loving, caring, nurturing home where she is being raised by loving and well-adjusted parents. In addition, the court determined that appellees are meeting all of the child's developmental, physical and emotional needs, and that it is in the child's best interests for Father's parental rights to be terminated. The court was faced with a choice between Father's pure speculation about a future potential problem that is within his power to resolve and appellees' well-supported evidence that the child is thriving in a safe and stable environment, where she is strongly attached to appellees as the only parents she has ever known. We find the court's decision to be strongly supported by the evidence and free of legal error.

¶ 11 We turn now to Father's second contention: that appellees lacked standing to bring the termination petition and therefore the petition should have been dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. As this Court has previously explained, "[w]hen our legislature has designated who may bring an action under a particular statute, a court does not have jurisdiction over the action unless the party bringing the action has standing." In re Adoption of W.C.K., 748 A.2d 223, 228 (Pa.Super.2000), appeal denied, 567 Pa. 745, 788 A.2d 378 (2000). In the case at bar, as in W.C.K., the relevant statute is the Adoption Act,⁵ which provides for a cause of action to involuntarily terminate parental rights and also designates who has standing to file such an action. See 23 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 2511 and 2512. Therefore, the trial court did not have jurisdiction over the termination proceedings unless petitioners/appellees had standing to bring the petition to terminate Father's parental rights.

¶ 12 Father first raised the issue of standing in his petition for allowance of appeal, which our Supreme Court denied without comment. However, Father relies on the tenet that "the question of subject matter jurisdiction may be raised at any time, by any party, or by the court sua sponte" to argue that this Court may now address the standing issue. W.C.K., 748 A.2d at 228 (quoting Grom v. Burgoon, 448 Pa.Super. 616, 672 A.2d 823, 824-25 (1996)). Father...