Matter of Adoption of K.T.B., 2020 UT 51 (July 21, 2020)

The district court struck a filing by a mother seeking to intervene in an adoption proceeding due to a procedural deficiency in the filing, and then excluded her from participating in the adoption proceedings because she had failed to intervene within 30 days as required under the Utah Adoption Act.  On appeal, the Court reversed the district court’s ruling and held that the “strict compliance” requirement in the Utah Adoption Act is unconstitutional as applied to the mother, where the mother’s deficient filing “fulfilled the purpose” of the act, but did not strictly comply with it.