State4/4/2005
In this parental termination case, the father, JCG appeals the termination of his parental rights to BJG.
The biological parents married after BJG was born. The mother left the marriage, but returned to the marriage after approximately six months and the parties stayed together for approximately two years. The mother left the marriage, and the parties divorced two years later in 1999, and the father was granted custody of the child.
In October 1999, the father was facing a felony DUI (4th DUI) and reckless endangerment charge in Tennessee. He fled the state to Maryland, where he purchased a house, and enrolled the child in school. On November 16, 1999 he was arrested in Maryland on a fugitive from justice warrant, having failed to appear in Johnson County Criminal Court. Being unable to make bail, the father remained in jail until December 17, 1999, when he was released because the Tennessee authorities had not taken him into custody.
When the father was arrested in Maryland, the child stayed with the father's nephew, David Guinn Jr. and his wife, who lived nearby. On November 18, 1999, the father's brother, Mark Guinn and the mother took the child from David Guinn Jr.'s residence and returned to Tennessee. After the father's release from jail, he met on December 30, 1999, with his sister, Geneva Eggers, in Damascus, Virginia, and advised Ms. Eggers that he was heading out west to visit relatives in Oregon and another sister in Utah, but that he wanted to find his son.
On November 21, 2000, the child's aunt and uncle, David and Judy Guinn, petitioned the Court and received temporary custody from Ruth Hodge, with whom the mother had left the child. The Order granting temporary custody included a no-contact order against both parents. The child stayed with David and Judy Guinn from November 18 to December 6, 2000, at which time they petitioned the court for the State to take custody. The child was taken into custody by the Department of Children's Services on December 6, 2000 and placed in foster care at Freewill Baptist Children's Home. The Department mailed a certified letter to the father on January 30, 2001, after running the father's social security number through the DCS computers. The father traveled to Utah in early 2000 to visit his sister and niece, and stayed for several months. He parked his camper on the property behind the house, which was connected to his sister's utilities, for which he paid her $100.00 per month. At some point he had an apartment address in Utah, and on February 3, 2001, the father was arrested in Utah for second degree child sexual abuse over an incident involving his great niece. The charges arose out of an incident occurring in a garage located on the property between his niece's house and where his camper was located. On June 6, 2001 he pled guilty to one charge of sexual abuse of a minor, then changed his plea to nolo contendre on June 26, 2001. On July 25, 2001, he was sentenced to one to fifteen years in the Utah penitentiary.
The petition for termination of parental rights was filed on June 28, 2001, alleging grounds of abandonment, including the failure to visit the child, failure to support the child or make reasonable payments toward his support for the four months preceding incarceration, and wanton disregard for the child's welfare. The mother had voluntarily surrendered her parental rights on August 14, 2001, and is not a party to this appeal.
After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court terminated the father's parental rights on several statutory grounds, and the father has appealed. The father's first issue on appeal is that the Trial Court erred in denying his Motion to be personal
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