Case Name: Ratcliffe, State Department of Public Welfare v. Williams
Court: Arkansas Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Arkansas
Decision Date: 1952-06-30
Citations: 220 Ark. 807
Docket Number: 4-9889
Parties: Ratcliffe, State Department of Public Welfare v. Williams.
Judges: Mr. Justice Holt concurs in this dissent.
Reporter: Arkansas Reports
Volume: 220
Pages: 807–814

Head Matter:
Ratcliffe, State Department of Public Welfare v. Williams.
4-9889
250 S. W. 2d 330
Opinion delivered June 30, 1952.
Ike Murry, Attorney G-eneral; George E. Lusk, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, and Ivan H. Smith, for appellant.
O. Wendell Hall, Jr., for appellee.

Opinion:
Ed. P. McFaddik, Justice.
The question here presented is whether the Probate an adoption case, under § 56-101 et seq. Ark. proceed to hear and decide the case without the consent of the guardian of the minor.
The appellant is Mrs. Bernice G. Ratcliffe, Director of Child Welfare of the State of Arkansas. The appellees are Mr. and Mrs. Williams, who seek to adopt two minor children, Earl and Robert Franklin, aged five and six years, respectively. The Garland Probate Court appointed the appellant as the guardian of the two minors, with full right and authority to consent to adoption, without notice to or consent of the natural parent or parents. (See § 56-120 Art. Stats.) Appellant placed the two children in the home of the appellees, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, in Saline County. The Williams became attached to the little boys, and in January, 1952, filed in the Saline Probate Court, a petition for their adoption. This was a proceeding under § 56-101 et seq. Ark. Stats.
Appellant resisted the adoption petition, saying in her pleading:
"That said guardian has not given her consent to these petitioners to adopt said children and does not give her consent to said petitioners to adopt said children; that the written verified consent of said guardian to the adoption is necessary for this court to have jurisdiction of this matter; that this court is without jurisdiction to hear and determine this matter. ' ' -
Notwithstanding such pleading, the Saline Probate Court held that it had jurisdiction to hear and decide the adoption case on the merits and from the evidence as might be developed. Appellant, by this appeal, disputes the correctness of such ruling. Assuming, without deciding, that the ruling of the Court was an appealable order, in order for appellant to present the question to us, nevertheless, we hold that the Saline Probate Court was correct in its ruling. Section 56-106 Ark. Stats, provides in part:
"Consent of parents or guardian.— (a) The adoption of a child shall not be permitted without the written consent verified by affidavit, of its parent or parents, if living, except as follows :
(b) The consent of a parent or parents may be dispensed with if the court, upon competent evidence, makes one of the following findings:
(I) The parent has abandoned the child for more than six (6) months next preceding the filing of the petition.
(II) The parent cannot be found.
(III) The parent is insane or otherwise incapacitated from giving consent.
(IV) A guardian of the child has been appointed by an order of the Probate or Juvenile Court giving the guardian authority to consent to adoption without notice to or consent of the child's natural parents. In this case, the written verified consent of the guardian shall be sufficient. . . ."
Appellant insists that in the case at bar, she, as the guardian, stands in the place of the parents, and that the Probate Court can make no order of adoption unless and until the appellant consents. We hold appellant is in error. Even the consent of the parent may be dispensed with under (I) supra, if the parent has abandoned the child; under (II) supra, if the parent cannot be found; and (III) supra, if the parent is insane; or (IV) supra, if the guardian consents in lieu of the parent.
We affirm the order of the Saline Probate Court, which held that the appellant's objections did not defeat the Court's jurisdiction. From a final order granting or refusing adoption, based on the merits of the case, there may be an appeal.
Among other cases, appellant cites a Pennsylvania case, In Re: Daugherty's Adoption (1948), 358 Pa. 620, 58 Atl. 2d 77; and a Minnesota case, In Re: Mair (1931) 184 Minn. 29, 237 N. W. 596. These cases are not persuasive here, because each of the cases is based on a statute which specifically requires the consent of the guardian to permit adoption.
Some of the cases relied on by appellee as persuasive are those which come from states which have statutes similar to our statute, in that the consent of the guardian is not essential to a .valid order of adoption. Some such cases are In Re: Santos, 185 Calif. 127, 195 Pac. 1055; Leonard v. Honisfager, 43 Ind. App. 607, 88 N. E. 91; and In Re: McFarland, 223 Mo. App. 826, 12 S. W. 2d 523. See, also, generally, I Am. Jur. 638 and Anno. in 104 A. L. R. 1464.