District of Columbia Court Case: Matter of P.G.

IN THE MATTER OF PETITION OF: P.G. and L.G.; RAYMOND FISHER, APPELLANT, v. THE BARKER FOUNDATION, APPELLEE 

District of Columbia Court of Appeals 

452 A.2d 1183 

September 7, 1982, Argued 

November 16, 1982, Decided 

Appeal from the Superior Court of the District of Columbia (Hon. James A. Washington, Jr., Trial Judge) 

Affirmed. 

COUNSEL:
Dacosta V. Mason, for appellant.

David S. Klontz, with whom Michael P. Bentzen was on the brief, for appellee. 

JUDGES:
Newman, Chief Judge, and Kelly and Mack, Associate Judges. 

OPINIONBY:
NEWMAN 

Appellant, the unwed father of Baby Boy Davis sought custody of the child, and opposed adoption by the G. family. The court found that adoption would be in the child's best interest, and therefore granted it. Appellant now contends that the District of Columbia adoption scheme violates due process by permitting the termination of parental rights (through adoption) over the objection of a natural parent, without a finding that the natural parent is unfit to raise the child. Appellant also argues that it was error to deny a mistrial where the trial judge had seen inadmissible evidence in an ex parte letter, although the information was expressly disregarded in deciding the case. Neither ground has merit.
I
Appellant and the child's natural mother lived together for about two years, although they never married. They separated while the mother was pregnant, and she sought an adoptive placement before the child's birth. The child has lived with the G. family since the age of about five weeks. The child was about one and a half years old when their petition for adoption, now under review, was granted.
The court found that adoption by the G. family would be in the best interest of the child. To say that the evidence and subsidiary findings provide overwhelming support for that ultimate finding is an understatement. As the court found, appellant has only his biological tie with the child in his favor; all else is decisively in favor of the adoption petition.