Background
Shawn I. and Crystal D. are the parents of two daughters, born in 2008 and 2009. After their divorce, they shared legal decision-making and equal parenting time. Father exercised parenting time for about 18 months, but his contact then fell sharply: from 2020 through 2025, he saw the children in person four times and his occasional texts with one daughter ended in 2023.
Mother petitioned to terminate Father’s rights for abandonment in April 2025. Her husband, who had assumed responsibility for supporting the children, wished to adopt them, but his fingerprint-clearance application had been denied because of his criminal record and his appeal remained pending. The juvenile court found abandonment and concluded termination was in the children’s best interests. Father appealed only the best-interests finding.
The Court’s Holding
The Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed. It first held that the appeal was not moot as to the daughter who had turned 18 while the appeal was pending. If Father retained parental rights, he could have interests in a later adult-adoption proceeding, and the daughter’s best interests also weighed against dismissing that portion of the appeal.
On the merits, reasonable evidence supported the best-interests finding. Although the stepparent adoption was uncertain because of the unresolved fingerprint-clearance appeal, absolute certainty of adoption was not required; a current adoption plan could suffice. The record also showed that Stepfather met the children’s needs and provided a stable parental relationship, while the children viewed Father as a stranger, feared living with him if Mother died, and believed severance would provide security and peace of mind.
Key Takeaways
- An uncertain stepparent adoption can support best interests when there is an existing adoption plan and evidence of stability and benefit to the children.
- Best interests may be shown by the harm of continuing a parent-child relationship, even apart from a completed or certain adoption.
- A termination appeal was not moot merely because one child reached adulthood during the appeal.
Why It Matters
The decision applies a totality-of-the-circumstances best-interests analysis in a private abandonment termination. It underscores that a court may consider children’s need for permanence, their relationship with a caregiving stepparent, and the emotional harm or insecurity associated with an absentee parent.
The memorandum decision is not precedential under Arizona Supreme Court Rule 111(c).