Legal analysis from Dean's Law Dictionary will be displayed here.

This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Stephanie (M) met Mark (F) and went steady. Two years later M was pregnant, and F suggested an abortion, but finally, adoption was agreed upon. F was not a good expecting father and was eventually arrested for aggravated assaults against M and on M's 16th birthday attempted to kill himself. F decided that maybe he should get his life in order and as part of that process decided not to give the child up for adoption. About 3 weeks after the birth F found an attorney willing to take his case and then proceeded to ask for custody of the child. A petition was filed to terminate F's status, and F filed a petition to establish a father-child relationship. The court determined that F was not the presumed father and that it would be in the child's best interests to be adopted by John and Margaret, the couple that M had chosen. M appealed.

The legal issues presented in this case will be displayed here.

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