## Facts

- Baby Boy A. was born on March 31, 1979, while his biological father was incarcerated on a rape conviction.
- A private adoption agency placed the child in foster care on April 4, 1979.
- On June 28, 1979, an agency representative informed the father of the child’s birth and that the mother had consented to adoption, and requested the father’s consent to termination of his parental rights.
- The father refused to consent.
- From June 1979 through September 1980, the father made no effort to perform parental responsibilities or maintain a relationship with the child.
- After release on parole (about fifteen months after June 1979), the father opposed termination and attempted to pursue contact, citing barriers including illiteracy and prior incarceration.
- The agency filed a petition to involuntarily terminate the father’s parental rights under the Adoption Act.
- The trial court denied the petition for lack of clear and convincing proof; the Superior Court vacated and directed termination; the Supreme Court affirmed.

## Issues

1. Whether the agency proved by clear and convincing evidence statutory grounds to terminate parental rights based on abandonment—i.e., a settled purpose to relinquish parental claim or a failure to perform parental duties for at least six months.
2. Whether the trial court erred by treating the father’s post-release efforts, illiteracy, and incarceration as defeating a finding of abandonment despite an undisputed prolonged period of complete inaction.
3. Whether termination served the child’s needs and welfare once statutory grounds were established.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania affirmed the Superior Court’s order directing termination of the father’s parental rights.
- The court held the undisputed record showed a fifteen-month total failure to perform parental duties, exceeding the statutory minimum, establishing abandonment as a matter of law by clear and convincing evidence.
- The court concluded incarceration and illiteracy did not excuse a complete lack of effort during the relevant period.
- The court found no record evidence that maintaining the father’s parental rights would better serve the child’s interests.

## Legal Principles

- Abandonment supporting involuntary termination is established where a parent, for at least six months, either evidences a settled purpose to relinquish parental claim or fails to perform parental duties; the petitioner must prove grounds by clear and convincing evidence.
- An extended, undisputed period of total inaction toward parental duties may establish abandonment as a matter of law.
- Incarceration does not relieve a parent of the obligation to make reasonable efforts to maintain a parental relationship to the extent possible.
- Post-petition or late-arising efforts generally do not negate an already-established period of abandonment.
- After statutory grounds are proven, the court must consider the child’s needs and welfare; termination is appropriate where the record does not show the child benefits from preserving the parental relationship.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed termination because the father’s undisputed fifteen-month complete inaction satisfied the statutory abandonment ground by clear and convincing evidence, and neither incarceration, illiteracy, nor later efforts overcame that failure; the record also lacked evidence that continuing the father’s parental rights would serve the child’s needs and welfare.


In re Adoption of Baby Boy A. v. Catholic Soc. Servs. of the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pa., Inc., 517 A.2d 1244 (Pa. 1986)