Adoption of Zak (and two companion cases) (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-004-17)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us 16-P-393 Appeals Court ADOPTION OF ZAK (and two companion cases).[1] No. 16-P-393. Norfolk. October 7, 2016. – January 9, 2017. Present: Hanlon, Sullivan, & Blake, JJ. Adoption, Visitation rights, Standing. Parent and Child, Adoption. Minor, Adoption, Visitation rights. Practice, Civil, Adoption, Standing. Petitions filed in the Norfolk County Division of the Juvenile Court Department on May 19, 2010, and September 9, 2011. Following review by this court, 87 Mass. App. Ct. 540 (2015), the cases were heard by Dana Gershengorn, J. Julia A. B. Pearson for the mother. Sherrie Krasner for the father. Kari B. Kipf Horstmann for Department of Children and Families. Steven B. Rosenthal for Zak. Yvette L. Kruger for Carol & another. SULLIVAN, J. In this case we consider whether a mother and father, whose parental rights have been terminated, have standing to participate in a hearing on posttermination visitation under the following circumstances. Termination of parental rights and posttermination visitation were originally litigated in a single trial. The termination of parental rights was affirmed on appeal, but the matter was remanded to the Juvenile Court on the question of posttermination visitation. The parents were not notified of the remand hearing and did not participate. Following the entry of an “amended order for posttermination/adoption visitation” (posttermination visitation order), the parents appealed again to this court. We now conclude that the remand hearing was a continuation of the original proceeding, and that the parents had standing to participate in the remand hearing. Accordingly, we vacate the posttermination visitation order and remand for further proceedings. Background. In Adoption of Zak, 87 Mass. App. Ct. 540 (2015) (Zak I), we affirmed the entry of decrees by a judge of the Juvenile Court terminating parental rights and dispensing with consent to adoption, but remanded on the question of posttermination visitation. Although the judge had considered the effect of domestic violence on the question of termination of parental rights, her order on the visitation issue was silent as to the impact of domestic violence on the question of posttermination visitation.[2] We remanded the case for further findings and rulings in order to permit the judge to consider that issue. We also noted the authority of the judge to consider whether circumstances had changed since the issuance of the original […]