Summary
This Utah Supreme Court decision determines whether the federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA) governs interstate adoption proceedings and strips state courts of subject matter jurisdiction. The court concludes that adoption proceedings qualify as custody determinations under the PKPA, but the statute merely limits the exercise of jurisdiction rather than divesting state courts of subject matter authority. Consequently, the biological father's failure to raise the PKPA in the district court constitutes a waiver of the argument on appeal. The court also affirms the lower court's denial of the father's motion to intervene, finding he forfeited his parental rights under Utah law by failing to act promptly.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the PKPA applies to adoption proceedings and divests Utah courts of subject‑matter jurisdiction over such proceedings.
- Whether the father waived his PKPA claim by failing to raise it in the district court and whether he timely asserted his parental rights under Utah law.
Holdings
- The PKPA applies to adoption proceedings, but it does not divest Utah district courts of subject‑matter jurisdiction over those proceedings.
- The father waived his PKPA claim by not raising it below, and he also waived his right to contest the adoption because he failed to satisfy Utah’s statutory requirements for an unmarried biological father.
Key quotations
“We hold that the PKPA applies to adoption proceedings, but that Mr. Wyatt waived any claim under the PKPA by failing to raise the statute below.”
“We hold that the PKPA applies to adoption proceedings. In so doing, we join the overwhelming majority of courts that have addressed the issue and reached the same conclusion.”
Factual background
Emily Colleen Fabhland and John Wyatt III, unmarried residents of Virginia, conceived Baby E.Z. The birth mother relinquished the child for adoption in February 2009 and the prospective adoptive parents filed a petition in Utah. Wyatt initiated a custody action in Virginia after the relinquishment and later filed a motion in Utah to intervene, which was denied. The Virginia court later awarded Wyatt custody under the PKPA.
Procedural history
The father filed a motion to intervene in the Utah adoption proceeding after the birth mother relinquished her rights. The district court denied the motion, finding the father had waived his rights. The father then appealed, raising for the first time a claim under the federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA).