‘Court has no jurisdiction over child staying in U.S.’

The Superior Court has denied a petition by a couple who wanted to adopt their minor grandchild who has been living with her siblings in Nevada the past five years.

“This court does not want to set a precedent of granting adoptions over children who no longer are present nor reside in the jurisdiction,” said associate judge Juan T. Lizama in denying the motion for adoption filed by Francisco Maratita Taisacan and Juanita Mundo Taisacan.

The judge said he is denying the Taisacans’ petition because the child has not been present in the CNMI since 2002.

“The court does not think it proper to divest the Nevada courts of their rightful jurisdiction over this adoption proceeding,” said Lizama in the order he issued last week, a few days before he resigned from the bench on Saturday.

He noted that while the Taisacans correctly submitted documentation, petitions, and consent of the natural parents, they did not sufficiently explain the child’s absence from the CNMI in the last five years.

The judge pointed out that if the child currently resides in the CNMI and has done so for the last five years he would have granted the petition.

However, an absence of five years is an extended length of time for the child to have been absent from the jurisdiction, Lizama said.

He said the Nevada court is the appropriate jurisdiction as that is the residence of the child.

Had the case been brought before a Nevada court and the Nevada court had deferred to the CNMI courts, then this petition would have been granted, he added.

Lizama said the minor child has been living with her siblings in Nevada for the past five years and has surely developed strong familial bonds.

“The court does not think it would be in the best interest of the child to remove her from her siblings and the life she has known for the last five years in order to give her grandparents parental rights,” the judge said.

Lizama added that he was not given an opportunity to speak with the child to determine if this adoption is in line with her desires and interests.

“On the basis that the court cannot exercise jurisdiction over someone who has been so long absent as well as the court’s determination that this adoption would not be in the best interests of the child, this petition for adoption is hereby denied,” he said.