Blecha v. Blecha

In Blecha v. Blecha, 257 Neb. 543, 599 N.W.2d 829 (1999), the Nebraska Supreme Court was confronted with a case in which a minor child sought to be placed in the custody of his maternal grandmother and aunt. In Blecha, the court applied the parental preference doctrine to conclude that the biological father's natural right to the custody of his child trumped the interest of "strangers to the parent-child relationship." 257 Neb. at 547, 599 N.W.2d at 832. In so doing, the court implicitly recognized that the maternal grandmother and aunt were "unrelated" persons in the context of the parental preference doctrine because, despite the fact that they were extended family members, they were not biological parents of the child.