ADOPTION AND PARENTAGE—Grandfather participation.

In the Matter of the Parentage of E.A., a Minor Child, Docket No. 123,710, and In the Matter of the Adoption of E.A., a Minor Child, Docket No. 125,994. (Kan. S. Ct. December 27, 2024; Shawnee Dist. Ct. reversed, adoption decree is vacated, and adoption case is remanded with directions). The district court did not allow a grandfather, with whom the child lived exclusively for his first six years, to intervene in an adoption filed by the child’s grandmother and her husband, who “launched a preemptive adoption under false pretenses” by taking the child as part of an arranged visitation. Grandfather also initiated an unsuccessful paternity case in which he alleged he was the child’s presumed father under K.S.A. 23-2208(a)(4). Grandfather appealed and lost the paternity appeal, but another panel reversed the entry of an adoption decree in the adoption case. The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the parentage panel and affirmed the decision of the adoption panel, meaning both district court decisions were reversed. The Supreme Court held the grandfather should have been allowed to intervene in the adoption case, and he pled sufficient facts to prosecute the paternity claim. The parentage case was remanded with directions to consolidate it with the adoption case, which was remanded for further proceedings. The Supreme Court suggests that temporary custody of the child, which was placed with the grandmother and her husband, may be reconsidered after remand to determine what is in the child’s best interests.