RE: The matter of Ashley Michele Menard

OPINION

BEN H. CANTRELL, Presiding Judge, M.S.

The trial court terminated the parental rights of a teenage father on the ground of abandonment, and granted the adoption petition of the maternal grandparents. We do not believe that the grandparents proved abandonment by clear and convincing evidence. We therefore reverse the order terminating the father’s parental rights and granting the grandparent’s adoption.

I. A Wanted Child, but an Unwanted Father

Bryant Leo Meeks (hereafter Leo Meeks) and Angela Veys Menard dated each other in high school. Angela lived with her parents, petitioners Michael…