In re Mata

• Citation: 212 S.W.3d 597
• Decision Date: 09 August 2006
• Docket Number: No. 03-06-00374-CV.,03-06-00374-CV.
• Parties: In re Melissa MATA.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas

212 S.W.3d 597

In re Melissa MATA.

No. 03-06-00374-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Austin.

August 9, 2006.

Rehearing Overruled August 18, 2006.

Leigh Ann Fouts, Lubbock, for Relator.

Isaac M. Castro, Hamlin, Mark Marshall, Brady, for Real Party In Interest.

Before Chief Justice LAW, Justices B.A. SMITH and PURYEAR.

OPINION

DAVID PURYEAR, Justice.

This case presents a cautionary tale illustrating the dangers of private, informal adoptions in which the legal procedures set out in the family code are not followed, leaving both natural parents and would-be adoptive parents open to possible heartache. A private adoption such as this one, while a joyous possibility, can be fraught with risks for everyone involved. The birth mother is faced with the need to make the most difficult of decisions—to forever surrender her parental rights and allow another family to adopt and raise her child—and it is important that her decision to relinquish her parental rights not be rushed. She must have time to fully consider such a momentous decision and the opportunity to seek legal counsel and counsel from family or friends to help her fully understand her options and the consequences of terminating her rights to her child. It is important that the adoptive parents receive certain legal rights from the birth mother to protect them before they form a bond with the child that is unthinkable to sever. That is why the law attempts to protect both sides by specifying the form a relinquishment of parental rights must take, insuring that the mother fully understands the risks and the consequences of her decision. See Vela v. Marywood, 17 S.W.3d 750, 759 (Tex.App.-Austin 2000), pet. denied, 53 S.W.3d 684 (Tex. 2001); see also Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 161.103 (West Supp.2005) (affidavit of voluntary relinquishment must include statement that parent has been informed of parental rights and duties; statement that relinquishment is revocable, irrevocable, or irrevocable for stated period of time; and explanation of how and when revocation may be accomplished), § 161.1035 (West 2002) (if affidavit of relinquishment does not state that it is irrevocable for certain period of time, affidavit is revocable within ten days of execution). This petition for mandamus requires us to examine the painful consequences of a decision that was rushed and the heartache that follows when the parties ignore the legal protections that are designed to apply to such decisions.

For a mother's relinquishment of her parental rights to be considered voluntary, the parties must follow specific procedures set out in the family code. See Vela, 17 S.W.3d at 763-64. None of those safeguards or procedures were followed in this difficult and heartbreaking case, in which Melissa Mata, an unmarried nineteen-year-old who lived at home with her parents, allowed Sam and Laura Gonzalez, the would-be adoptive parents, to take her two-day-old baby home from the hospital without having signed any documents giving up any of her parental rights or bestowing any legal rights on the Gonzalezes.¹ Melissa changed her mind a week later, but the Gonzalezes, understandably distraught at her change of heart, refused to return the child, instead filing the underlying lawsuit in McCulloch County seeking to have Melissa's parental rights terminated. In temporary orders, the trial court granted the Gonzalezes temporary managing conservatorship over the child and excluded Melissa from any possession of the child. Melissa filed her petition for writ of mandamus, attacking both the temporary order and the trial court's refusal to dismiss the Gonzalezes' suit. Although we empathize with all the parties involved, we hold that the trial court abused its discretion in excluding Melissa from possession of her child, and we therefore conditionally grant Melissa's petition for writ of mandamus. See Tex.R.App. P. 52.8.

Factual Background

Melissa learned she was pregnant in 2005 and she believed the father was her ex-boyfriend, Adrian Davis. Melissa was afraid to tell her parents and did not want to upset them because her grandfather had been sick and her uncle had recently died.² Melissa therefore concealed her pregnancy, briefly living with her best friend, Clarissa Sanchez, at the very end of the pregnancy. Melissa smoked marijuana once and drank occasionally before she found out she was pregnant but testified that she stopped when she learned she was pregnant. She was unsure of what she should do and in December 2004, she explored abortion as an option, abandoning that idea when she learned she was too far along in her pregnancy. Melissa did not seek regular prenatal care or take prenatal vitamins, but testified that she had a sonogram and ate well during the pregnancy.

At 10:11 a.m. on May 16, 2006, Melissa gave birth to her son. He was slightly underweight and doctors worried that he had enlarged kidneys, but further tests results have been normal. Clarissa had somehow spoken to Sylvia Gonzalez, who is Sam Gonzalez's sister, and Clarissa and Sylvia arranged for the Gonzalezes to come meet Melissa and the baby in the hospital two days later.³ Sam Gonzalez testified that on May 17, Sylvia called and told him that "[t]he hospital wanted a name for the child. [Melissa] did not want to give it a name; therefore, we presented our name, and that's what they put down on the birth certificate." Melissa said that she allowed the Gonzalezes to choose S.G. as the baby's name "[b]ecause Sylvia told my friend, Clarissa, that they picked out a name."

The Gonzalezes arrived at the hospital at about 11:00 a.m. on May 18 and spoke to Melissa for about two hours. Melissa testified that the Gonzalezes told her that they "could have an open adoption, and I could be in his life," and "[t]hat I could change my mind up until I signed the actual adoption papers." That same day, based in part on those assurances, Melissa told them she wanted them to adopt S.G. and signed a release allowing the Gonzalezes to take him home from the hospital. She testified that when she allowed the Gonzalezes to take S.G. home from the hospital, she did not want to kiss him because, "I felt that if I kissed him, . . . I wouldn't be able to give him away to them, and I knew how much they wanted a baby."

Melissa was sad and wept for several days after leaving the hospital because she wanted to see and hold S.G., and she testified that she regretted giving S.G. to the Gonzalezes almost immediately but did not tell anyone until she talked to her parents. On May 25, a week after the Gonzalezes took S.G. home with them, Melissa told her mother about S.G., and her mother responded that "if I wanted my baby . . . we can go back and get my baby." Melissa called the Gonzalezes that day and told them she had changed her mind and wanted to raise S.G. herself. Melissa testified that the Gonzalezes led her to believe that she could pick up S.G., so she and her parents drove about five hours from Lubbock to Brady, to the home of Peter and Mary Ann Castro, Laura Gonzalez's brother and sister-in-law.⁴ They understood that the Gonzalezes would meet them there, but when they arrived at the Castros' house, the Gonzalezes were not present and did not answer their phone. Melissa and her parents spoke to the Castros for about three hours that night. Contrary to Mary Ann Castro's testimony, Melissa denied agreeing that S.G. should stay with the Gonzalezes, testifying that she agreed generally with some of the Castros' statements about S.G.'s needs. Melissa testified that she and her parents left and returned to Lubbock about 11:00 p.m. without seeing the Gonzalezes or S.G. because it was so late and they were frustrated: "I was ready to go home because they were giving us the run-around because we were supposed to meet Sam and Laura, not them [the Castros], to discuss the situation with the child."

Two days later, on May 27, Melissa and her parents again drove to Brady to pick up the child, first calling the Gonzalezes to say they were on the way. Sam advised Melissa to bring a change of clothes and a car seat for the baby. Once again, when Melissa arrived at the Castros' house, the Gonzalezes were not there and did not answer their phone. Melissa and her parents waited at the Castros' house, then went to get something to eat. When they returned, Isaac Castro, another brother of Laura Gonzalez and the Gonzalezes' attorney, told Melissa and her parents that they could not have the baby, showing them the hospital release she had signed and indicating that the "paper alone prevented [her] from taking the child." Melissa testified that she wanted to raise S.G. and now knew she could so because she had a job and her parents would help her.

Clarissa Sanchez testified at the hearing that Melissa was unsure about what to do when she learned she was pregnant. She did not want to tell her parents because of her grandfather's illness and her uncle's recent death, nor did she want to tell her ex-boyfriend. About two weeks before the birth, Sylvia Gonzalez called Clarissa and told her that her brother and sister-in-law might be prospective adoptive parents. Clarissa said she regretted her role in arranging the attempted adoption because she did not want to hurt the Gonzalezes but believed that "this baby should be with Melissa." Clarissa and her mother originally planned to take Melissa's son to their home until the proper legal papers were signed. But Sylvia called and said that the lawyer stated that if the Gonzalezes were going to adopt this baby, the Gonzalezes should take him home from the hospital.

At the hearing, Sam Gonzalez testified that his sister Sylvia called him on May 16 and told him about Melissa and her baby. On May 17, Sylvia called to say that Melissa did not want to name the baby, so the Gonzalezes chose the baby's name. The Gonzalezes drove to Lubbock on May 18, arriving about 11:00 a.m., and met with Melissa, who told them that she wanted them to...