In re Adoption of D.W.- E.H.

Citations

• 2022 Ohio 528

Syllabus

Adoption failure to contact justifiable cause parental consent objection to adoption R.C. 3107.07(A) clear and convincing evidence manifest weight of the evidence noncustodial parent's communication with child Covid-19 pandemic relationship of the parties custodial parent's interference with noncustodial parent's communication with child new issue on appeal waived. The probate court had sufficient evidence to determine that the noncustodial parent had justifiable cause for his failure to have contact with the child for the year preceding the filing of the adoption petition. The court was not restricted to focusing solely on the one-year period in making its justifiable cause determination. The court properly considered factors other than the noncustodial parent's communication with the child. Typically, a noncustodial parent has justifiable cause for noncommunication if the custodial parent has created substantial impairments to the communication, but other circumstances can create justifiable cause. Justifiable cause is not precise. Petitioners have the burden to establish that there was no justifiable cause for the noncustodial parent's failure to contact the child. The burden does not shift to the noncustodial parent. The novelty of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the noncustodial parent's medical conditions, loss of work and transportation, exhaustion of resources, and other factors demonstrated that the trial court's justifiable cause finding was supported by some competent and credible evidence. Petitioner failed to raise the issue of the timeliness of the noncustodial parent's objection to the adoption petition at the trial-court level and has waived appellate review of the issue.