In re Adoption of B.H.

Summary

The Utah Supreme Court reviewed an interstate adoption involving the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) and the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). The court held that the UCCJEA does not govern a petition to terminate parental rights brought under Utah’s Adoption Act in connection with an adoption. It also held that an ICPC compliance deficiency was not a jurisdictional defect requiring invalidation of the adoption.

Holdings

1. A termination petition filed under the Utah Adoption Act in connection with a contested adoption is an adoption proceeding, and the UCCJEA expressly does not govern jurisdiction over adoption proceedings. The district court therefore had subject-matter jurisdiction under the Adoption Act without first acquiring jurisdiction under the UCCJEA.
2. A deficient ICPC request form is not a jurisdictional defect. Neither the ICPC nor the Utah Adoption Act requires dismissal of the adoption petition, reversal of the placement, or loss of jurisdiction in the receiving-state court as a consequence of the deficiency.
3. The adoption decree was insufficient because the Adoption Act requires the final decree to state that the ICPC requirements have been complied with, and the district court did not make that determination.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the UCCJEA governs subject-matter jurisdiction over a parental-rights termination petition filed under the Utah Adoption Act in connection with a contested adoption.
2. Whether a deficient ICPC request form identifying the wrong father is a jurisdictional defect requiring dismissal of the adoption proceeding or loss of jurisdiction by the Utah court.
3. Whether the adoption decree was legally sufficient when it did not state that the ICPC requirements had been complied with, as required by the Utah Adoption Act.

Disposition

remanded