In Re Kierani C.

Syllabus

This is a termination of parental rights case focusing on Kierani C., the minor child (\the Child\) of Christopher A., Sr. (\Father\), and Keona C. (\Mother\). In August 2017, Mother surrendered her parental rights to the Child before the Shelby County Chancery Court (\chancery court\).1 At that time, the Child was placed in the legal custody and partial guardianship of Hannah's Hope United Methodist Adoption and Pregnancy Counseling (\Hannah's Hope\) and the physical custody of pre-adoptive parents, Katherine B. and Adrian B. In September 2017, Hannah's Hope filed a petition in the chancery court to terminate Father's parental rights to the Child. In January 2018, Father filed a petition to establish parentage in the Memphis and Shelby County Juvenile Court (\juvenile court\), and in May 2018, Katherine B. and Adrian B. filed a petition in the Shelby County Circuit Court (\trial court\) to terminate Father's parental rights to the Child. Upon motions filed by Katherine B. and Adrian B., all matters pertaining to the Child were subsequently transferred to the trial court, which consolidated the actions. Following a bench trial, the trial court granted both termination petitions upon its finding clear and convincing evidence of ten statutory grounds, including four abandonment grounds, specifically that Father had willfully failed to (1) visit the Child in the four months preceding the petition's filing by Hannah's Hope, (2) financially support the Child in the four months preceding each petition's filing, (3) visit Mother during the four months preceding the Child's birth, and (4) make reasonable payments toward Mother's financial support during the four months preceding the Child's birth, as well as six grounds applicable to a putative father, specifically that Father had failed to (5) pay a reasonable share of expenses related to the Child's birth, (6) make reasonable and consistent payments for the Child's support, (7) seek reasonable visitation with the Child, (