Sec. 1.4. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), a court, in making a determination under section 1.2(e) of this chapter, shall consider all relevant evidence, but may not base its determination solely on a finding that a:

(1) petitioner for adoption would be a better parent for a child than the parent who filed the motion to contest the adoption; or

(2) parent has a biological link to the child sought to be adopted.

     (b) If a petition for adoption alleges that a parent’s consent to the adoption is unnecessary under IC 31-19-9-8(a)(1) or IC 31-19-9-8(a)(2) and the parent files a motion to contest the adoption under section 1 of this chapter, the court may consider:

(1) the parent’s substance abuse;

(2) the parent’s voluntary unemployment; or

(3) instability of the parent’s household caused by a family or household member of the parent;

as justifiable cause for the parent’s abandonment or desertion of the child as described in IC 31-19-9-8(a)(1), failure to communicate significantly with the child as described in IC 31-19-9-8(a)(2)(A), or failure to provide for the care and support of the child as described in IC 31-19-9-8(a)(2)(B), if the parent has made substantial and continuing progress in remedying the factors in subdivisions (1), (2), and (3), and it appears reasonably likely that progress will continue.

As added by P.L.61-2003, SEC.17. Amended by P.L.203-2021, SEC.21.