S.H. v. J.H. and H.H. (mem. dec.) ( 2020 )

MEMORANDUM DECISION
Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D),
this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED
regarded as precedent or cited before any Oct 26 2020, 9:36 am
court except for the purpose of establishing CLERK
the defense of res judicata, collateral Indiana Supreme Court
Court of Appeals
and Tax Court
estoppel, or the law of the case.
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEES
Zachary A. Smith Charles P. Rice
Trapp Law, LLC Murphy Rice, LLP
Indianapolis, Indiana South Bend, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
S.H., October 26, 2020
Appellant, Court of Appeals Case No.
20A-AD-994
v. Appeal from the Hamilton
Superior Court
J.H. and H.H., The Honorable Jonathan M.
Appellees. Brown, Judge
Trial Court Cause No.
29D02-2004-AD-634
Najam, Judge.
Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 20A-AD-994 | October 26, 2020 Page 1 of 8
Statement of the Case
[1] S.H. (“Mother”) appeals the trial court’s judicial acknowledgement of her
consent to the adoption of her minor child. Mother raises three issues for our
review, which we revise and restate as the following two issues:
1. Whether the trial court erred when it accepted Mother’s
consent to the adoption.
2. Whether Indiana should require a birth mother to wait a
certain period of time after the birth of her child prior to
executing a consent to the child’s adoption.
[2] We affirm.
Facts and Procedural History
[3] On April 1, 2020, Mother, who was nineteen years old, gave birth to a child
(“Child”). The next day, Mother went to an adoption agency to “talk to them
more about [her] adoption plan.” Tr. at 6. While there, Mother read and
signed a waiver of notice and consent for adoption of Child. The notice stated
that “the signing of this consent to adoption will result in a complete
termination of [Mother’s] parental rights” and that Mother’s “consent to the
adoption may not be withdrawn” unless Mother petitioned the court in a timely
manner. Appellant’s App. Vol. 2 at 15-16 (emphasis removed). The waiver
further stated that Mother “hereby voluntarily, unconditionally, and
irrevocably” consents to Child’s adoption. Id. at 16-17 (emphasis removed).
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[4] In addition, the notice provided that Mother: was not under the influence of
any alcohol or drugs; had had “enough time to carefully consider whether or
not adoption” was in her own bests interests; was “fully aware of all
implications of” the consent; and had “chosen not to be represented by an
attorney.” Id. at 15-16. Mother initialed each paragraph of the consent form
and signed it at 7:33 p.m. on April 2.
[5] At the same time, Mother also read and signed a relinquishment of parental
rights and consent to adoption checklist. In that checklist, Mother
acknowledged that she was “not under the influence of any drug, medication,
or any substance” that might affect her judgment, that she had no obligation to
proceed with an adoption, that she “may take more time in order to give her
decision more thought,” and that she had the right to consult with an attorney.
Id. at 21. At 8:39 p.m. that evening, J.H. and. H.F. (collectively, “Adoptive
Parents”) filed a petition to adopt Child. Adoptive Parents attached to their
petition a copy of the documents Mother had signed at the adoption agency.
[6] At 9:00 a.m. on April 3, the court held a telephonic hearing on Mother’s
consent to the adoption. Mother appeared at that hearing pro se. During the
hearing, Mother agreed that she had “understood” each paragraph and that no
one had pressured her “in any manner” to sign the documents. Tr. at 7.
Mother also stated that she understood that, if the court accepted her consent,
she would “have no period of time to withdraw” that consent. Id. at 8. Mother
then reiterated that she had signed the consent forms voluntarily and that she
still wished to proceed with the hearing.
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[7] Following that hearing, the court issued an order in which it found that “there
has been no showing of duress or force” concerning the signing of either
document. Appellant’s App. Vol. 2 at 7. The court also found that Mother
understood “the consequences of the signing of” the consent forms and that she
had freely and voluntarily signed the documents. Id. Accordingly, the court
entered a judicial acknowledgment accepting Mother’s consent to the adoption.
The court then made “an express determination that there is no just reason for
delay and expressly direct[ed] entry of final and appealable judgment as to” its
acknowledgment of Mother’s consent. Id. at 8.
[8] Thereafter, on April 27, Mother, while represented by counsel, filed a notice
with the trial court in which she “formally withd[rew] her consent to the
adoption” of Child. Id. at 27. In support of her motion, Mother stated that,
“shortly after” April 2, she had informed the adoption agency of her desire to
withdraw consent. Id. At a hearing on Mother’s motion, Mother argued that
she had signed the forms under duress. Following the hearing, the court found
that, because it had previously accepted Mother’s consent, Mother’s motion
was “untimely filed.” Id. at 9. This appeal ensued.
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Discussion and Decision
Issue One: Validity of Consent to Adoption
[9] Mother appeals the court’s judicial acknowledgement accepting her consent to
the adoption of Child. 1 As our Supreme Court has recently stated:
In family law matters, we generally give considerable deference
to the trial court’s decision because we recognize that the trial
judge is in the best position to judge the facts, determine witness
credibility, get a feel for the family dynamics, and get a sense of
the parents and their relationships with their children.
Accordingly, when reviewing an adoption case, we presume that
the trial court’s decision is correct, and the appellant bears the
burden of rebutting this presumption.
The trial court’s findings and judgment will be set aside only if
they are clearly erroneous. A judgment is clearly erroneous
when there is no evidence to support the findings or the findings
fail to support the judgment. We will not reweigh evidence or
assess the credibility of witnesses. Rather, we examine the
evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court’s decision.
J.W. v. D.F. (In re E.B.F.), 93 N.E.3d 759, 762 (Ind. 2018) (cleaned up).
[10] On appeal, Mother asserts that the court erred when it accepted her consent to
Child’s adoption because her consent was not voluntary. It is well settled that,
1
Adoptive Parents have filed a motion to dismiss Mother’s appeal from the April 27 order because that
order was neither a final order nor an interlocutory appeal as of right and because Mother did not seek to
have it certified as an interlocutory order. We have granted that motion in a separate order. However,
because in substance Mother’s appeal is from the court’s April 3 order, our grant of Adoptive Parents’ motion
to dismiss has no effect on our resolution of this appeal.
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for a parent’s consent to an adoption to be valid, it must be voluntary. See K.F.
v. B.B., 145 N.E.3d 813, 824 (Ind. Ct. App. 2020), trans. denied. A consent is
voluntary if it is “an act of the parent’s own volition, free from duress, fraud, or
any other consent-vitiating factor, and if it is made with knowledge of the
essential facts.” Bell v. Doe (In re Adoption of A.R.H.), 654 N.E.2d 29, 32 (Ind. Ct.
App. 1995)).
[11] Here, Mother contends that she “did not understand that her consent would be
irrevocable[.]” Appellant’s Br. at 9. In addition, Mother asserts that the trial
court “failed to inquire” into whether Mother was under the influence of any
drugs as a result of giving birth at the time she executed the consent. Id. at 11.
And Mother contends that she only had a “limited time” following the birth of
Child to execute her consent such that she did not have time to contact an
attorney. Appellant’s Br at 14. Accordingly, Mother maintains that her
consent was not voluntary.
[12] The evidence demonstrates that, following her discharge from the hospital,
Mother went to the adoption agency to talk “more” about her adoption plan for
Child. Tr. at 6. While at the agency, Mother read and signed a consent form.
By signing that form, Mother acknowledged that she “voluntarily,
unconditionally, and irrevocably” consented to Child’s adoption. Appellant’s
App. Vol. 2 at 16-17. Mother also agreed that she was not under the influence
of any drugs, that she had had “enough time” to consider the adoption, and
that she had “chosen” not to be represented by an attorney. Id. at 15-16.
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[13] In addition, Mother also signed a checklist in which she agreed that she was not
under the influence of any medication that might affect her judgment, that she
“may take more time” to consider her options, and that she had the right to
consult an attorney. Id. at 21. Further, at a hearing on Mother’s consent,
Mother acknowledged that she had understood each paragraph of the consent
forms. Mother understood that, if the court accepted her consent, she would
“have no period of time to withdraw” that consent. Tr. at 8. And Mother
twice informed the court that she had signed the documents voluntarily and
that she wanted to procced with the hearing. See id. at 7-9. That evidence
supports the trial court’s findings that Mother understood the consequences of
signing the consent forms and that she had signed the forms voluntarily. The
trial court did not err when it accepted Mother’s consent to Child’s adoption.
Issue Two: Waiting Period Prior to Consent to Adoption
[14] Mother next asks us to impose a waiting period between the birth of a child and
the execution of a consent to an adoption. Specifically, Mother states that
“Indiana is only one of twenty (20) States that allow biological mothers to sign
consents for adoptions as soon as they have the baby.” Appellant’s Br. at 15.
And Mother maintains that, had she been required to wait a certain period of
time before she could sign the consent forms, she “would have been better able
to assess her situation.” Id. at 17. Accordingly, Mother asks us to require “a
reasonable waiting period in line with the majority of States between giving
birth and signing an irrevocable consent[.]” Id.
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[15] However, the right and responsibility to determine public policies, and to adopt,
improve, refine, and perfect legislation directed thereto, falls to the legislature,
not the courts. Parsley v. MGA Fam. Grp., Inc., 103 N.E.3d 651, 657 (Ind. Ct.
App. 2018). Our role is to construe the statutes and apply enactments so as to
carry out legislative intent. See id. And, here, the Indiana legislature has
provided that a biological mother may execute a consent to an adoption “at any
time after the birth of the child[.]” Ind. Code § 31-19-9-2(a) (2020). Regardless
of the wisdom of that policy, it is clear that we have neither the responsibility
nor the authority to add a waiting period to the statute where none exists. As
such, we decline Mother’s request for us to require a waiting period before a
mother may sign a consent to an adoption.
[16] In sum, we affirm the trial court’s judicial acknowledgment accepting Mother’s
consent to the adoption of Child.
[17] Affirmed.
Bradford, C.J., and Mathias, J., concur.
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