In the Interest of B.H.-W.

The Court affirmed the trial court's grant of the father's petition to legitimate his 10-month-old child, the placement of the child with the father and the dismissal of a third-party petition for permanent guardianship.

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D. W., the biological father of B. H.-W., filed in the Juvenile Court of DeKalb County a petition to legitimate the child, then ten months old, and a motion for placement. After a hearing, the juvenile court granted the petition for legitimation and ordered that B. H.-W. be placed with the father. In the same proceedings, the juvenile court dismissed a petition for permanent guardianship previously filed by the Georgia Department of Human Resources by and through the DeKalb County Department of Family and Children Services “the Department”. B. H.-A., the child’s mother, appeals, contending that the juvenile court erred in failing to include necessary jurisdictional facts in its orders, in excluding certain testimony regarding the father’s pursuit of his opportunity interest and his fitness to parent, in finding that the father had not abandoned his opportunity interest in B. H.-W., in failing to determine whether the father was a fit parent before granting his petition to legitimate, and in failing to apply the best interest standard when it dismissed the guardianship petition and awarded custody to the father. For the reasons explained below, we affirm.

1. The mother contends the trial court erred in failing to include necessary jurisdictional facts in its judgment.1 “As a general rule, a juvenile court is a court of special and limited jurisdiction, and a juvenile court’s judgment must show on its face such facts as are necessary to give the court jurisdiction of the person and subject matter. If the order of a juvenile court fails to recite the jurisdictional facts, the judgment is void.” Citation and punctuation omitted. In the Interest of S. K. L., 199 Ga. App. 731, 734-735 2 c 405 SE2d 903 1991.

In the Interest of B.H.-W.

The Court affirmed the trial court's grant of the father's petition to legitimate his 10-month-old child, the placement of the child with the father and the dismissal of a third-party petition for permanent guardianship.

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