In the Matter of the Adoption of A.A.T., a Minor Child

Dec 12, 2008

OUTCOME: Affirmed

I represented Adoptive Parents. Natural father, who had been deceived by the mother, brought action to set aside adoption of his newborn child. The Sedgwick District Court ordered DNA testing, and adop ... tive parents appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed. After DNA testing confirmed natural father's paternity and following a bench trial, the District Court refused to set aside the adoption. Natural father appealed. Holdings: After the appeal was transferred, the Supreme Court, Luckert, J., held that: 1 evidence was sufficient to establish that father should have know that the mother was still pregnant despite mother's claims she had an abortion and that if he had taken action he would have been able to protect his rights; 2 father failed to grasp the opportunity to establish a firm commitment to parenting and thus did not have a liberty interest in parenting his newborn child protected by the Due Process Clause; 3 mother was not an “adverse party,” for purposes of statute entitling a party to relief from a judgment when the judgment was obtained by the fraud of an adverse party; and 4 trial court did not abuse its discretion by finding that father could have discovered mother's lies by the use of reasonable diligence, and thus was not entitled to relief from the judgment based on newly discovered evidence.