Donna Smith, the maternal grandmother and legal guardian of V. B. L., appeals from a juvenile court order granting a petition filed by Lucius Christian, the child’s biological father, to legitimate the child. Smith claims that the juvenile court erred in i applying the wrong standard in determining whether Christian had abandoned his interest in developing a relationship with the child, and ii determining that legitimation was appropriate based upon Christian’s fitness as a parent rather than upon a consideration of what was in the best interest of V. B. L. Because we find that the juvenile court erred, we reverse the judgment below and remand this case to the juvenile court for proceedings consistent with this opinion. This Court must review a juvenile court’s ruling on a legitimation petition for abuse of discretion.1 Here, the undisputed evidence shows that Brandy Smith met Christian while she was visiting Daytona Beach, Florida in 1999. Christian testified that he thought he met Brandy at a bar, that he spent “a couple of hours” with her before they had sexual intercourse, and that “it may have been sun-up or whatever” when they “parted way” the following morning. Christian never learned Brandy’s last name, although he acknowledged that “she might have mentioned it”; and he admitted that her last name was not very important to him at the time. Christian testified that the only thing he knew about Brandy, other than her first name, was that she was from the Dalton area.
V. B. L. was born on May 25, 2000, and Brandy identified Barry Lewis as V. B. L.’s biological father even though she was married to Anthony Nance. On March 11, 2003, the juvenile court found that V. B. L. was deprived and granted temporary custody to Donna Smith. On March 2, 2005, the juvenile court found that V. B. L.’s parents had failed to support or maintain contact with her, and it extended Smith’s custody of V. B. L. for an additional two years. After making similar findings on February 27, 2007 and again on February 6, 2009, the juvenile court granted custody to Smith for additional two-year periods.
