In re: D.B.

Summary

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed the termination of petitioner father M.L.’s parental rights to D.B. The court held that the petitioner’s incestuous relationship with his stepdaughter, which resulted in D.B.’s conception, supported adjudication as an abusing parent and termination of parental rights. The court also rejected the petitioner’s constitutional challenge to West Virginia’s incest statute, noting that the issue was waived and that there is no fundamental right to commit incest.

Holdings

1. A parent may be adjudicated an abusing parent when the parent's incestuous conduct in conceiving the child poses a threat of physical, mental, or emotional harm to the child, even without proof of a separate post-birth injury.
2. Termination of parental rights was proper where the child was conceived through the parent's incestuous relationship, the resulting conditions of abuse could not be substantially corrected, and termination was necessary for the child's welfare.
3. The constitutional challenge to West Virginia Code § 61-8-12 was waived because it was not raised in the circuit court; alternatively, there is no fundamental constitutional right to commit incest, and the statute does not implicate a suspect class.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the circuit court properly adjudicated M.L. as an abusing parent based on his incestuous relationship with his teenage stepdaughter and the resulting risk of harm to D.B.
2. Whether the circuit court properly terminated M.L.'s parental rights after finding that D.B. was conceived through incest and that the conditions of abuse could not be substantially corrected.
3. Whether West Virginia Code § 61-8-12 is unconstitutional because it allegedly infringes a fundamental right to consensual sex with an adult stepchild.

Disposition

affirmed