PEOPLE EX REL. AJC
| Decision Date | 12 April 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 04SA18.,04SA18. |
| Citation | 88 P.3d 599 |
| Parties | In re the PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, In the Interest of A.J.C., Minor Child G.A.L. and K.L., Petitioners and concerning C.M.C. and D.C., Respondents. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied May 3, 2004.1
Beltz & West, P.C., W. Thomas Beltz, Daniel A. West, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Attorneys for Petitioners.
Samler & Whitson, P.C., Eric A. Samler, Denver, Colorado, Virginia L. Frank, Evergreen, Colorado, Attorneys for Respondents.
This is an original proceeding under C.A.R. 21 in which the Petitioners, G.A.L. and V.K.L., seek review of an order of the Jefferson County District Court (the "district court") dismissing their Verified Petition for Allocation of Parental Responsibilities, Writ of Habeas Corpus, and subsequent Order denying the Petitioners post-judgment relief. Specifically, the Petitioners ask this court to reverse those orders and remand the matter back to the district court for an evidentiary hearing on their Verified Petition for Allocation of Parental Responsibilities. We issued a Rule to Show Cause on January 20, 2004, and ordered expedited briefing.
This case involves a failed adoption. The child, A.J.C., was born in Missouri on April 18, 2003. Immediately after his birth, the natural mother consented to the placement of the child for adoption with a Colorado couple, the Petitioners, who returned here with him and have remained here. In October of 2003, the Missouri court dismissed the adoption petition filed by the Petitioners in Missouri because the natural mother had, by that time, withdrawn her consent. The Missouri court eventually ordered that the Petitioners return the child to the mother. The Petitioners commenced a proceeding in Colorado seeking to establish an ongoing relationship with the child, even though that child was no longer available for adoption.
Had the child been born in Colorado, our statutes and case law would direct the courts of this state to entertain the Petitioner's Petition for Allocation of Parental Responsibilities, despite the failed adoption. That custody determination, like all custody determinations, would be guided by the best interests of the child and a court would take evidence to that effect.
What we consider here is whether, because the child was born in Missouri, spent two days of his life there and was the subject of a Missouri adoption proceeding, the outcome should be a different one. To resolve that question, we look not only to Colorado's and Missouri's internal law, but also to the laws that govern interstate disputes of this nature. Although we uncover more questions than answers in our survey of this body of law, we ultimately conclude that there is nothing about the interstate nature of this dispute that would demand that Colorado decline to treat this child as we would treat a child born within our borders.
We organize our analysis in this opinion by first outlining Colorado's internal law, then summarizing the law in Missouri that would appear to apply. Colorado law would clearly direct the court to engage in a "best interests" analysis concerning the placement of A.J.C. Nothing in Missouri law controverts the undertaking of that inquiry, and indeed, Missouri courts themselves have undertaken similar inquiries in other cases.
We then look to the laws in both Colorado and Missouri that bear upon the resolution of interstate disputes of this nature. Colorado previously determined its jurisdiction in interstate custody disputes by reference to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA), section 14-13-101, et seq., 5 C.R.S. (1999), which is no longer in place in Colorado, but which is still in place in Missouri. Mo.Rev.Stat. §§ 452.440 to 452.550 (2003). When it was in place, courts of this state construed the UCCJA to apply to custody issues arising out of failed adoptions, and Missouri's courts seem to concur. Hence, if we look to any continuing applicability of the UCCJA by virtue of its force in Missouri, Colorado would be entitled to exercise jurisdiction over this dispute as the home state of the child because the child has resided here for all of his young life.
However, Colorado has repealed the UCCJA, and enacted the more modern Uniform Child-custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). § 14-13-101, et seq., 5 C.R.S. (2003). We conclude that the UCCJEA does not apply to failed adoption proceedings, by specific language of the statute. Hence, the UCCJEA offers us little assistance in this controversy. We do note that the exclusion of adoptions from the UCCJEA was made in reliance upon an expectation that states will adopt the Uniform Adoption Act (UAA). Unif. Adoption Act, 9 U.L.A. 16, 16-132 (1994). Although neither Colorado nor Missouri have enacted the UAA, the drafters of the UCCJEA believed the UAA was an important and appropriate outline of law governing adoptions. Thus, we review its terms and conclude that it, too, would direct Colorado to proceed with a best interests inquiry concerning this child.
Both Colorado and Missouri have adopted the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC or the "Compact"). §§ 24-60-1801 to XX-XX-XXXX, 7B C.R.S. (2003); Mo. Ann. Stat. § 210.620 (2003). Under that Compact, the sending agency in Missouri is empowered to cause the return of the child to that state. By virtue of Missouri law, we construe the sending agency to mean the adoption intermediary here, who has declined to request that the child be returned to Missouri.
Accordingly, reviewing all potentially applicable laws, we find nothing that would mandate that Colorado decline to engage in the inquiry that it would afford to a Colorado-born child: namely—assessing the Petitioners' and the natural mother's claims in the context of the child's own best interests. We conclude that the district court erred in determining that it was without jurisdiction to hear the Petitioners' case.
Our decision today comports with the philosophy expressed in the UAA that a child is not "an object that `belongs' to a parent or would-be parent and has to be shifted back and forth in the event `ownership' rights are changed or reinstated." Unif. Adoption Act (1994) § 2-408, cmt., 9 U.L.A. 62 (1999). Rather, A.J.C. is a party to this proceeding and, as such, has the right to have his best interests heard and determined by the court, independent of the legal rights of either his biological mother or the Petitioners. We now make the Rule absolute and remand the case to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
This case concerns a child, A.J.C., who was born in Missouri on April 18, 2003, to C.M.C. (Mother) and D.C. (Father).2 On April 19, 2003, Mother signed a Transfer of Temporary Custody and Appointment of Power of Attorney for Care of Child. This agreement transferred the physical and temporary legal custody of A.J.C. from Mother to the Petitioners pending a final adoption. The Petitioners are both residents of Colorado.
On April 21, 2003, Mother signed a Consent to Termination of Parental Rights and Consent to Adoption, which was filed with the Circuit Court of St. Charles County, Missouri (the "circuit court"). That same day, the Petitioners filed both a Petition for Termination of Parental Rights and Transfer of Legal Custody and a Petition for Adoption in the circuit court. Additionally, the Petitioners filed a Motion for an Emergency Order for Transfer of Custody. On April 21, 2003, the circuit court entered an Order approving preliminary placement of A.J.C. with the prospective adoptive parents, the Petitioners. The circuit court noted in that Order that it was approving preliminary placement only and that it retained jurisdiction to conduct a formal hearing regarding the termination of Mother's parental rights, the transfer of legal custody of A.J.C. to the Petitioners, and ultimate approval of the Petition for Adoption. At that point, two days after the baby's birth, the Petitioners obtained physical custody of A.J.C. and returned with him to Colorado.3
On May 15, 2003, the circuit court entered an Order stating that it could not approve the Consent to Termination of Parental Rights and Consent to Adoption because "[s]aid consent did not identify the name of any possible father of the child," as required by Missouri law. After this Order was entered, Mother apparently changed her mind about the adoption and on July 25, 2003, Mother filed a Motion to Withdraw and Revoke Consent to Adoption with the circuit court. On August 22, 2003, the circuit court entered a Judgment and Order granting Mother's motion withdrawing her consent to the termination of her parental rights and consent to the adoption.
On September 26, 2003, Mother filed a Motion to Dismiss the Petitioners' Petition for Adoption. Mother asserted that she had effectively withdrawn her consent to the adoption, thereby terminating the adoption proceedings. As a result, Mother argued that custody of A.J.C. should revert to her.
On October 15, 2003, some six months after Petitioners had obtained custody of A.J.C., the circuit court entered a Judgment of Dismissal of the Petitioners' Petition of Adoption. The circuit court noted that Mother had withdrawn her consent to the termination of her parental rights and consent to the adoption before such consent was reviewed and approved by the court.4 Furthermore, the circuit court found that no circumstances existed that would allow the adoption to proceed without consent.5 Thus, the circuit court granted Mother's Motion to Dismiss and ordered that physical custody of A.J.C. be restored to Mother forthwith.
On November 3, 2003, the Petitioners filed a Motion to Vacate the circuit court's Judgment of Dismissal of Petition of Adoption entered on October 15, 2003. On December 5, 2003, the circuit court held a...
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