In re Adoption of J. J. B‪.‬

FROST, Justice. This case involves the contested adoption of a child placed for adoption by his mother without the knowledge of the child's father from whom she was separated. The case came to trial only after considerable delay, and after the child had lived for over one and one half years in the home of the couple seeking to adopt him. During this period of time the father had been able to secure only limited visitation with the child. After a trial on the merits, the district court concluded that the child had bonded with the couple seeking to adopt him and that it was in the child's best interest to remain with that couple. As a result, the court terminated the father's parental rights under New Mexico's ""presumptive abandonment statute,"" NMSA 1978, § 32-1-54(B)(4) (Repl. Pamp. 1989), repealed by 1993 N.M. Laws, ch. 77, § 234(A) (recompiled at NMSA 1978, § 32A-4-28(B)(3) (Repl. Pamp. 1993)); see also NMSA 1978, § 32A-5-15(B)(3) (Repl. Pamp. 1993).1