M.S. v. Phelps

SCHEB, JOHN M., Senior Judge.

Appellant, the natural father of M.K.S, challenges the trial court’s order adjudicating his daughter a dependent child and placing her with relatives of her late mother. The court based its judgment on the father having abandoned his daughter. We find the evidence legally insufficient to support a finding of abandonment. We reverse.

Appellees, Linda and Richard Phelps, M.K.S.’s maternal great aunt and uncle, sought to have the court adjudicate M.K.S. a dependent child. A factual background is essential to understanding the posture of the case, which followed a…