In Re Adoption of A.M.H.

Summary

The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and reinstated the parental rights of Shao-Qiang ('Jack') He and Qin ('Casey') Luo to their daughter A.M.H., dismissing the Bakers' petition for adoption and termination. It held that the one-year statute of repose in Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-1-113(q) does not deprive the court of jurisdiction over a timely appeal, that the parents did not willfully abandon A.M.H. by failing to visit during the four months before the termination petition because animosity with the Bakers led them to pursue custody through the courts, that their 1999 consent to transfer custody and guardianship was made without knowledge of its consequences and is revoked, and that the bond A.M.H. formed with the Bakers during the pendency of the litigation is not the substantial harm required to overcome the parents' superior rights. The case was remanded for expeditious transfer to the Juvenile Court of Shelby County to implement a reunification plan; a subsequent order denying the Bakers' Petition to Rehear clarified that Tenn. Code Ann. § 27-1-113's concurrent-findings provision did not apply and overruled broader prior interpretations of that statute as inconsistent with Rule 13(d) of the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure.