Dept. of Human Services v. K.G.A.B.

Under ORS 419B.824(6)(c), DHS may serve a parent or guardian by service of newspaper publication in the county where the action was commenced if DHS shows a written motion and affidavit from which it can be determined that DHS was unable to accomplish service through any other method.

K.G.A.B. ("mother") appealed a final judgment from the juvenile court terminating parental rights to her daughter after a hearing conducted in mother's absence. On appeal, mother contended that because the Department of Human Services (“DHS”) had sufficient knowledge about her presence in Florida, DHS failed to properly serve her the termination petition and summons when it used the method of service by publication in a newspaper in Deschutes County, Oregon, the county in which DHS originally commenced the action. The Court held that under ORS 419B.824(6)(c), DHS may serve a parent or guardian by service of newspaper publication in the county where the action was commenced if DHS shows a written motion and affidavit from which it can be determined that DHS was unable to accomplish service through any other method. The Court found that the information known by DHS regarding mother's presence in Florida was too tenuous for DHS to consider Florida to be a "location that might reasonably result in actual notice," since mother's Facebook profile listed Deschutes County—not Florida—as her place of residence. Furthermore, the Court found that because Deschutes County had jurisdiction over the child, and because at least two prior hearings on the case were held in Deschutes County, publication in the Deschutes County newspaper was "reasonably calculated" to serve mother. Affirmed.