Roe v. Doe

JONES, Justice.

Appellant John Doe and respondent Jane Roe married, moved out of state, separated, produced the child at issue in this appeal, and then divorced. Upon the petition of Roe and her father, filed about sixteen months after the divorce, the magistrate division of the district court terminated the father’s parental rights in the child. The magistrate judge found that the father had abandoned the child by failing to maintain a normal parental relationship without just cause, see I.C. § 16-2005(a) (Michie 2002),1 and that termination was in the child’s best interests. The father…