In Re Evalina H.

Syllabus

Petitioners attempted to terminate the parental rights of the child's biological father on thegrounds of abandonment by failure to visit and support. The trial court found that neitherground had been proven but proceeded to find that had grounds for termination beenproven, it would be in the child's best interest for the biological father's parental rights tobe terminated. Although we affirm the trial court's finding that the biological father provedthat his failure to visit was not willful, we reverse the trial court's finding as to the groundof abandonment by failure to support. We also affirm the trial court's finding thattermination is in the child's best interest.