J.M.W., In Interest of, 91-1790

• Decision Date: 25 November 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91-1790,91-1790
• Parties: In the Interest of J.M.W. and T.R.W., Minor Children, P.B., Appellee, R.W. and H.W., Intervenors-Appellants. In the Interest of J.M.W. and T.R.W., Minor Children, S.A.W. and P.C.A., Appellees, B.B. and A.B., Intervenors-Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 686

492 N.W.2d 686

In the Interest of J.M.W. and T.R.W., Minor Children, P.B., Appellee,

R.W. and H.W., Intervenors-Appellants.

In the Interest of J.M.W. and T.R.W., Minor Children,

S.A.W. and P.C.A., Appellees,

B.B. and A.B., Intervenors-Appellees.

No. 91-1790.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Nov. 25, 1992.

John Otto of Otto, Lorence & Barry, Atlantic, for appellants.

John M. Trewet and J.C. Van Ginkel of Kluever, Van Ginkel & Trewet, Atlantic, for appellees.

Curtis J. Heithoff of Pratt & Heithoff, Council Bluffs, for guardian ad litem.

Considered by HARRIS, P.J., and SCHULTZ, CARTER, SNELL, and ANDREASEN, JJ.

CARTER, Justice.

We have accepted for further review the decision of the court of appeals in this dispute over the adoption of twin infant children. The district court approved a proposed adoptive placement initiated by the children's mother and opposed by the maternal grandparents of the children. The court of appeals reversed and approved placement of the children with the maternal grandparents in anticipation that the grandparents would ultimately be permitted to adopt the children. Upon reviewing the record and hearing the arguments presented, we vacate the decision of the court of appeals and affirm the judgment of the district court.

The issues concern placement of the children for adoption after the termination of the parental rights of their natural parents. The contesting parties are R.W. and H.W., the parents of the children's natural mother, and B.B. and A.B., with whom the children had initially been placed pursuant to a proposed independent adoption placement. The contesting parties are intervenors in a termination of parental rights action involving the children's natural parents. The petition for termination of parental rights and the issues surrounding the proposed adoption and resistance thereto were considered together by the district court and decided in a single decision.

The significant facts and prior judicial proceedings in this matter include the following. J.M.W. and T.R.W. are twins born on February 22, 1991. Their mother was then age nineteen and unmarried. For approximately three months following the birth, she and the children resided with her parents, intervenors R.W. and H.W. During this three-month period, an attempt to arrange a private adoption of the children by a couple living in New Jersey was unsuccessful.

On or about May 21, 1991, attorney P.A. (acting at the behest of proposed adoptive parents) arranged an independent adoption placement of the children with intervenors B.B. and A.B. The children's mother executed a release of custody. It was contemplated by her that attorney P.A. would obtain a court order appointing himself as custodian of the children. It was further contemplated that this order would also approve placement of the children in the home of B.B. and A.B. for purposes of adoption. Attorney P.A. was also entrusted with the task of pursuing an action to terminate the parental rights of the mother and the putative father, P.B.

In contemplation of the proposed independent placement, B.B. and A.B. did take custody of the children on or about May 21. However, after nearly a month had passed, no order had been obtained naming P.A. as custodian and no petition for termination of parental rights had been filed. The first action taken in court with respect to this matter was a petition by the children's putative father, P.B., to have the mother's parental rights terminated. The putative father requested that the children be delivered to him. It appears without dispute, however, that P.B. was acting in cooperation with the maternal grandparents, R.W. and H.W., who wished to block adoption of the children by B.B. and A.B. and, ultimately, to adopt them themselves. ¹ P.B.'s initial request that the children be placed with him was subsequently amended to ask that they be placed with R.W. and H.W.

The filing of P.B.'s action apparently prompted attorney P.A. to finally take some action with respect to B.B. and A.B.'s efforts to adopt the children. On June 20, he obtained an order appointing himself as custodian for the children and approving their placement for adoption with B.B. and A.B.

The proceedings were further complicated when the natural mother of the children commenced an action in which she claimed that her initial determination that P.B. was the father of J.M.W. and T.R.W. was incorrect. She alleged that in fact their father was T.F. On this basis, she challenged P.B.'s standing to bring the pending termination of parental rights action against her. She sought a judicial determination of paternity of the children and a termination of parental rights of their natural father.

Faced with this multitude of claims, the district court temporarily removed the children from the care of B.B. and A.B. It appointed J.O., the attorney who had been representing the putative father and maternal grandparents, as custodian of the children in place of P.A. On July 22, the court temporarily placed the children in the home of intervenors R.W. and H.W., where they had resided for the first three months following birth. In so doing, the court expressly stated:

[T]his placement is temporary and shall continue until resolution of the instant case--the action to terminate the parental rights of [the children's mother]. This placement is made without prejudice to any attempt by [B.B. and A.B.] to ultimately become the adoptive parents of the children in interest. The placement shall be reviewed after the outcome of the paternity action initiated by [the children's mother] has been determined. The placement shall be reviewed after the resolution of this pending action to terminate the parental rights of [the children's mother].

On August 24, 1991, P.B. completely altered his prior position with respect to the placement of the children. He executed, on that date, a release of custody in compliance with Iowa Code section 600A.4 (1989). He also executed a voluntary consent to the termination of his parental rights as to J.M.W. and T.R.W. and expressed the wish that they be placed with B.B. and A.B. for adoption. Shortly thereafter, T.F., the other putative father of the children, expressed a willingness to voluntarily relinquish his parental rights as to the children. The case then proceeded to final hearing without having had a judicial determination made as to the paternity of the twins.

At the final hearing, the district court had before it written releases of custody and voluntary relinquishments of parental rights on behalf of the children's mother and by P.B. T.F. appeared at the hearing and, in open court, voluntarily relinquished any parental rights to the children. The court found that either P.B. or T.F. was the father...