In Re Andrew

David F. Blaisdell, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Objector and Appellant.

Alan K. Marks, County Counsel, and Joanne Fenton, Deputy County Counsel, for Petitioner and Respondent.

William Bud Walls II, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Minor.

[Opinion certified for partial publication. [*] ]

OPINION

TIMLIN, J.

David O. (father) has appealed from an order terminating his parental rights as to Andrew V. (minor), following a trial of the consolidated matters of father's action to establish paternity and the department of public social services' (DPSS) subsequent petition to terminate father's parental rights.

Father and the minor's mother lived together. When the minor's mother told father she was pregnant with the minor, father left to live with his family in Missouri. Mother contacted DPSS about a month before she gave birth to arrange to have the minor adopted. The child was born on April 22, 1989, and placed in a foster home specially licensed to care for drug-exposed infants after medical reports indicated the minor had been exposed to drugs while in utero.

The DPSS social worker assigned to the case spoke with father about four days after…