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In re of the Termination of Parental Rights of a Child8/31/1999
{1} This case concerns the extent to which New Mexico may exert, or needs to have, personal jurisdiction in termination of parental rights proceedings over a parent who has never had any connection with the State. Elizabeth V. (Mother), the biological mother of Vernon V. (Child), filed a petition to terminate the parental rights of Henry de la Peña (Father), the biological father of Child, on grounds of abandonment. Father has resided in the Phillippines at all times material to this case. Mother and Child moved from the Phillippines to the United States in 1995. Mother appeals the trial court's dismissal of the case for want of jurisdiction. We affirm.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
{2} Because Father has not participated in this case to date, we recite the relevant facts as presented by Mother in the trial court. Child was conceived in the Phillippines and born there on May 25, 1994. The only contact Father has had with Child was during his first two or three days of life while Mother and Child were in the hospital. Mother and Child then moved to Manila, Phillippines, until they received permission to enter the United States in 1995. They have lived in Farmington, New Mexico, since October 1995.
{3} After Mother and Child's arrival in Farmington, Child suffered severe brain damage, allegedly as a result of medical malpractice. As a consequence, he requires constant attention and medical care. Mother and her extended family have been caring for Child. Father's only acknowledgment of Child came in response to an attorney's letter informing Father of the malpractice and demanding either support for Child or a termination of parental rights. In his letter, Father indicated that he did not intend to financially support Child.
{4} Mother filed a petition to terminate Father's parental rights. No adoption petition was pending at the time of filing. Father was personally served notice of the termination proceedings in the Phillippines. He did not respond to the notice. After a hearing on the matter, the trial court acknowledged that Mother had made a prima facie showing of abandonment, but decided that the court had no personal jurisdiction over Father to grant the termination. The trial court denied Mother's petition. Because Child resided in New Mexico, the trial court concluded that it did have jurisdiction over custody issues. The trial court awarded sole legal custody to Mother. Mother appeals the trial court's denial of her termination petition for lack of jurisdiction.
DISCUSSION
{5} Mother argues that the trial court did, in fact, have jurisdiction over Father for the purpose of termination, either under New Mexico's Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (CCJA), NMSA 1978, §§ 40-10-1 to -24 (1981, as amended through 1989), or under an in rem or quasi in rem analysis. She appears to concede that the trial court did not otherwise have in personam jurisdiction over Father, whose actions did not fit within the long-arm statute and who has had no legally significant contact with the New Mexico forum. See generally International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316 (1945) (outlining the constitutional requirements for in personam jurisdiction); Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Hiatt, 117 N.M. 461, 463, 872 P.2d 879, 881 (1994) (outlining the requirements for in personam jurisdiction).
CCJA
{6} New Mexico adopted the CCJA in 1981 in an effort "to avoid jurisdictional competition, to promote cooperation among state courts, and to assure that custody litigation ordinarily takes place in the state with which the child and the family have the closest connection." Nelson v. Nelson, 1996-NMCA-015, 5, 121 N.M
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