Roe v. Reeves

Decision Date02 May 2011
Docket NumberOpinion No. 26967
PartiesJane Roe and John Roe, Appellants, v. Craig Reeves, Victoria A., John Doe, Biological Father and Baby Boy, an infant, Respondents.
CourtSouth Carolina Supreme Court

Jane Roe and John Roe, Appellants,
v.
Craig Reeves, Victoria A., John Doe, Biological Father and Baby Boy, an infant, Respondents.

Opinion No. 26967

Supreme Court of South Carolina

Filed May 2, 2011
Heard December 2, 2010


THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In The Supreme Court

Appeal From Greenville County

Alex Kinlaw, Jr., Family Court Judge

REVERSED

Philip J. Temple, Temple, Mann, Briggs & Hill, of Greenville, and Robert Norris Hill, Law Offices of Robert Hill, of Newberry, for Appellants.

Andrea B. Williams, of Greenville, and Mary Alice H. Godfrey, Godfrey Law Firm, of Greenville, for Respondents.

Katherine H. Tiffany, Guardian Ad Litem, of Carter Smith Merriam Rogers & Traxler, of Greenville.

JUSTICE HEARN: In this case, Craig Reeves (Father) claims his consent was necessary prior to another couple adopting his child. The family court agreed, finding that he met the requirements of Section 63-9-310(A)(5)(b) of the South Carolina Code (2010) and awarding him custody of the child. We find that Father did not undertake sufficient good faith efforts to assume parental responsibility and comply with section 63-9-310(A)(5)(b), and hold that his consent to the adoption is not required. Therefore, we reverse the family court and order that custody be immediately returned to the adoptive parents (Appellants).

FACTUAL/PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Father began a sexual relationship with Victoria A. (Mother) in July 2007, when he was nineteen years old and she was fifteen.1 At that time, Mother already had one son from a previous relationship with another man. Mother and Father's relationship was not a stable one. Over the next several months, Mother and Father broke up and reconciled several times. However, in May 2008, Mother, then sixteen years old, discovered she was pregnant with Father's child. She first told him that she was pregnant in July, at which point he was in a relationship with another woman. His response was less than encouraging. He initially texted her, "We dnt hav a baby jstop txtn me and sendin me pics." Approximately twenty-four hours later, apparently in response to another text from Mother, Father texted this: "Go hav an abortion or sumthn get a life stop txtn me damn."2 Although Father maintains he did not believe Mother when she told him that she was pregnant, 3 he did not undertake any effort to see her or otherwise confirm if she was, in fact, pregnant.

Shortly after receiving these initial text messages, Mother contacted an adoption agency about placing the child for adoption. She settled on Appellants as the prospective adoptive parents. From that point on, Appellants drove Mother to all of her remaining doctor appointments until the child was born. Additionally, Appellants made regular payments to the adoption agency for an allowance that was distributed to Mother for pregnancy and other miscellaneous expenses. However, Mother's medical expenses were covered by Medicaid. During the term of her pregnancy, Mother lived at home with her mother and other child. Her living expenses were covered by her mother and the food stamps they received, and were supplemented by the payments made by Appellants through the adoption agency.

Father soon learned of Mother's plans to place their child up for adoption. When he found out, he texted her: "If ur putn it w people and ur hapy then f*kn stop begin me 2 cum b there its not gna hapn." Less than a month later, he texted Mother: "Leav me tha f*k alone im nt gna txt u bak and I want nothng 2 do w u so jus get out mx [sic] life already." He made no further effort to inquire about Mother or their unborn child until November of that year when Mother visited Father at his workplace. According to Father, it was only at that time he realized she was indeed pregnant. It was then, some five or six months into Mother's pregnancy, that Father first informed Mother he wanted custody of the child and asked that she stop the adoption. At this point, Mother began having some reservations about whether to proceed with the adoption. She changed her mind about her decision several times and acknowledged that Father expressed at least some desire to raise the child, telling him that she would consider it "if he was serious." When Father asked if he could speak with Appellants about calling off the adoption, she refused to give him their names. However, Father claims Mother told him that he would be able to take the child home from the hospital when it was born.

During the remainder of the pregnancy, Father bought some diapers for Mother's other son and made her a one-time offer of $100, which she refused. According to Father, Mother would not accept money for their child, but she would accept things for herself and her other son. In that vein, he paid eleven dollars for a T-shirt and sweat pants for Mother at Old Navy. He did not pay any medical expenses because Mother was receiving Medicaid, nor did he pay living expenses because Mother lived with her mother and received food stamps. He did gratuitously repair Mother's family vehicle, which was owned by her mother.4

At this time, Father earned nine dollars per hour plus average monthly commissions of $900 working at an auto parts store. He also had a second job performing automobile repossessions. However, very little of his commissions and none of his income from repossessions were reported on his financial declaration. He had $4,000 in savings5 and $34,000 in property, which included several cars and motorcycles he planned to sell for cash. Although he appears to own most of his vehicles, his car payments totaled $500 per month, and he listed an additional $80 per month expense just for tires. Like Mother, Father lived at home with his parents. He anticipated that should he have custody of the child, it would stay with him at his parents' house. To that end, he converted some space in his parents' house into a nursery and purchased diapers, clothes, blankets, bottles, and other similar items.

After arranging the adoption, Mother had weekly meetings with the adoption agency to evaluate her progress. During one of these meetings in January 2009, Mother asked about Father's rights as the biological father of the child. One of the agency's employees told Mother what state law requires of a biological father and asked her whether Father had offered her any support. She told the employee of Father's one-time offer of $100, but said that he had made no other offers. The employee expressed her opinion that the offer was not legally sufficient to establish his rights as the father, but she told her to let the agency know if he made any more offers. At no point did the agency advise her to not accept any offers from Father; in fact, the agency specifically told her to not hide from Father. Despite this, she told Father the agency told her to refuse his offers of support and that she should not even be speaking to him.

In March 2009, Mother gave birth to a baby boy. Appellants drove Mother to the hospital and spent the night with her there. Mother did not contact Father when she went into labor, but after their son was born she sent him a text message with a picture of the baby, stating that he was "with his parents," referring to Appellants. Father then went to the hospital to see Mother and the child, but hospital staff informed him that Mother was a "no information" patient and would not accept his visit. When Father attempted to get in touch with Mother, she lied and said she was at her father's house. The next day, Mother signed an adoption consent form, and Appellants took the child home.

Very soon thereafter, Father retained an attorney and moved for temporary emergency relief. The family court awarded Appellants temporary custody of the child. Once Father's paternity was established, the court awarded him weekly visitation and ordered him to pay child support.6 During the period of time prior to the hearing on the issue of Father's consent to the adoption, Father exercised his right to visit the child, but he fell into arrears on his child support. In fact, it was not until the day before the consent hearing that this account was made current. At the hearing, Father testified that he "tried to be there" for Mother, but she refused his help and said he would never see his child. He also believed that Mother was jealous of his new relationship and did not want Father to raise the baby with another woman. On the other hand, Mother testified that she never believed Father was serious about raising their child and he "had his chance to step up... and he didn't." During the hearing, both Mother and Father acknowledged that they had not been truthful throughout these proceedings. Mother admitted she was untruthful to Father, Appellants, the adoption agency, and the guardian ad litem; Father admitted he lied in his deposition to make his relationship with Mother appear more stable. The family court found that Father had undertaken sufficient prompt and good faith efforts to assume parental responsibility as required by section 63-9-310(A)(5)(b). Accordingly, the court found his consent was required for Appellants to adopt the child and ordered that the child be returned into Father's custody. This appeal followed.

ISSUE PRESENTED

Did the family court err in finding Father was required to consent to the adoption of the child?

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