In re Adoption of C.R.D., 21 Kan.App.2d 94, 98, 897 P.2d 181 (1995), on the constitutional protections involved in stepparent adoptions-subsequently quoted with in K.J.B., 265 Kan. at 101, 959 P.2d 853 - that '`[b]asic parental rights are fundamental rights protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States ... which cannot be abrogated except for compelling reasons,'' cited as support the United States Supreme Court's decision in Quilloin v. Walcott, 434 U.S. 246, 98 S.Ct. 549, 54 L.Ed.2d 511, reh. denied 435 U.S. 918, 98 S.Ct. 1477, 55 L.Ed.2d 511 (1979), and the court's decision in In re Guardianship of Williams, 254 Kan. 814, 869 P.2d 661 (1994). Despite this broad statement, however, neither of these opinions explicitly hold that constitutional protections extend to a natural parent regardless of the circumstances. A natural parent's right to raise his or her child is protected to the extent that the parent demonstrates a commitment to his or her parental responsibilities.
In Quilloin, the Court considered the constitutionality of a Georgia statute providing that when a child is born out of wedlock, only the natural mother's consent is necessary in that ...