Kentucky Court Case: Cabinet v. McKeehan

CABINET FOR HUMAN RESOURCES, COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY, PETITIONER, v. EMBRY A. McKEEHAN, JUDGE, WHITLEY CIRCUIT COURT OF KY., RESPONDENT 

No. 84-CA-842-OA 

Court of Appeals of Kentucky 

672 S.W.2d 934 

May 2, 1984 

Ordered Published May 24, 1984. 

ORIGINAL ACTION, REGARDING WHITLEY CIRCUIT COURT 
JUDGES: John P. Hayes, Chief Judge. 

OPINION: ORDER 

The Cabinet for Human Resources has petitioned this Court to issue writs of mandamus and prohibition prohibiting the respondent judge from proceeding further in an adoption action pending before him and to require him to deliver custody of the child to the Cabinet for Human Resources so that the child may be restored to its natural father in Michigan. The Cabinet alleges lack of jurisdiction over the child. If the courts of this state have no jurisdiction over the child, relief by mandamus or prohibition is appropriate. Wood v. Graham, Ky., 633 S.W.2d 404 (1982). 

The record establishes that the child was born in Michigan to residents of that state. While the parents' divorce action was pending in the Michigan courts, the mother came to Kentucky with the child in April of 1983. The divorce was granted in July with custody being given to the mother with specific prohibition against her changing the domiciliary state of the child. 

Subsequently, the child was found to be abused and neglected in this state, and emergency orders were issued by the Whitley Circuit Court to transfer custody of the child to the Cabinet for Human Resources. Physical custody of the child was given to a couple in Whitley County who appear to have been under the impression that they were receiving the child for adoption. 

After a cooperative effort between the petitioner and its equivalent department in the state of Michigan, it was deemed appropriate for the child to be returned to its natural father who had obtained change of custody in Michigan. The Whitley District Court so ordered on November 22, 1983.