In a ruling that has far reaching implications for child in need of care cases, the Kansas Supreme Court held on July 11, 2014 that a cutoff for appellate review exists in child in need of care cases. The high court overturned the Court of Appeals panel, which had reversed a Segwick County District Court’s order awarding adoption rights to the foster parents of an abandoned child. The Court of Appeals would have permitted the child be adopted by maternal cousins.
In the 6-1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that under the current Kansas statutes there is a prescribed sequence of events that should occur in every child in need of care, or CINC, case. After the order is issued terminating parental rights, any district court decisions concerning the case are not subject to appeal.
Writing for the majority, Justice Dan Biles expressed that absent this cutoff for appeals, it is easy to see how CINC cases could turn into continual back and forth appeals and litigation by persons other than the child’s parents who are interested in adoption.
The case behind this monumental decision involves an infant girl born prematurely in Wichita on November 2, 2011. The child was underweight and the hospital found evidence of cocaine in her system. She was taken into custody and her birth mother had no further contact with the child, renouncing all parental rights.
During a protective custody hearing, the baby was placed in the care of what is now the Department of Children and Families. The state requested two foster parents take in the child and they have cared for her ever since. The Department of Children and Families later learned that a maternal cousin of the birth mother and her husband were also interested in adopting the child. In 2012, DCF made a formal decision to place the child with the maternal cousins for adoption. The foster parents appealed the decision.
A few months later, the CINC court ruled with the foster parents, finding that the child was bonded to the foster parents and the other children in the home, and severing that bond would not be in the child’s best interest. The court approved the foster parents to adopt the child during a separate hearing in which the cousins were not present.
The cousins then appealed the decision and the Court of Appeals overturned the district court judge, finding the judge had erred in finding the cousins did not make reasonable efforts toward the child’s adoption. The court vacated the foster parents’ legal custody and paved the way for the cousins to adopt.
In this manner, the case reached the Supreme Court, which held district court’s original finding in favor of the foster parents was not subject to appellate review.
This case will likely have long-lasting and considerable implications on CINC cases across Kansas, in which often there are several parties competing to adopt a child. If you are involved in a challenged adoption or a child in need of care case that could be impacted by this decision, contact an experienced adoption attorney as soon as possible to protect your legal rights.
McDowell Chartered: Kansas Adoption Firm Working to Create Families
Since 1992, the Kansas Adoption Law Attorneys at McDowell Chartered have helped families across the state adopt children in domestic, interstate, and international adoptions. Our decades of experience in the field allow us to handle any family law matter, whether it be child in need of care cases, stepparent adoptions, and more. Come see how the compassionate attorneys at McDowell Chartered can assist you. Call us today at (316) 633-4322 for an initial consultation.