In re Aaron H.

Summary

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed a circuit court’s decision to place Aaron H. Jr. for adoption with his foster parents rather than his paternal grandfather. Although state law provides a preference for grandparent adoptions, the court held that the preference is not absolute and may be overcome when placement with the grandparent is not in the child’s best interests. The court considered the grandfather’s lack of prior relationship with the child, his failure to complete the interstate home study, and the child’s longstanding placement with the foster parents.

Holdings

1. The statutory grandparent preference is not absolute or unrebuttable; placement with a grandparent is presumptively in the child's best interests, but the preference may be overcome when the record as a whole establishes that placement with the grandparent would not serve the child's best interests.
2. The circuit court did not clearly err in approving adoption by the foster parents because the placement decision was based on the totality of the circumstances and the child's best interests, not solely on the incomplete home study.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the statutory preference for grandparent adoption required placement of Aaron H. Jr. with his paternal grandfather rather than with his long-term foster parents.
2. Whether the circuit court clearly erred in finding that adoption by the foster parents, rather than the grandfather, served the child's best interests despite the incomplete home study.

Disposition

affirmed