In re Shane OO.

Shane OO. was born out-of-wedlock in 1992. Thereafter, in July 1993, he was found to have been neglected by his mother and placed in respondent’s custody, where he remains in foster care at the present time. Although from the outset petitioner maintained that he was Shane’s father, that assertion was apparently challenged by respondent and the child’s mother until an order of filiation was entered in December 1993, several months after the neglect proceeding was concluded. Significantly, petitioner was not a party to the neglect proceeding, nor was he considered a caretaker for the child,…