Opinion ID: 2197540
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jurisdiction to entertain the habeas corpus petition

Text: Initially, it must be determined whether Otto has standing to act on behalf of his son to file the instant habeas corpus petition. Contrary to the suggestion of the public guardian, the court-ordered appointment of a guardian ad litem does not divest Otto of his right to act on his son's behalf in filing a habeas petition. (See People ex rel. Edwards v. Livingston (1969), 42 Ill.2d 201, 247 N.E.2d 417; Cormack v. Marshall (1904), 211 Ill. 519, 71 N.E. 1077.) Indeed, insofar as this court held in its June 16, 1994, opinion that Otto expressed sufficient interest in his son such that his parental rights had not legally been terminated, no one, not even Richard's guardian ad litem, stands in a better position than Otto to represent the interests of his son. It must likewise be decided whether a writ of habeas corpus is appropriate in cases where the would-be adoptive parents attempt to retain custody of a child notwithstanding the invalidation of the adoption by the courts. This court has jurisdiction to entertain writs of habeas corpus, generally, pursuant to article VI, section 4(a), of the Illinois Constitution of 1970 (Ill.Const.1970, art. VI, § 4(a)), as well as Supreme Court Rule 381(a) (134 Ill.2d R. 381(a)). Moreover, historically, the writ was employed in instances where the custody of a child was at issue and the petitioner had no other legal avenue by which to seek custody of the child. See Edwards, 42 Ill.2d 201, 247 N.E.2d 417; Cormack, 211 Ill. 519, 71 N.E. 1077. The Does argue that Otto should not be allowed to seek the writ because the vacation of the adoption does not require that custody revert to Otto and, further, that section 601(b) of the Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, as well as the amendments to the Adoption Act (Pub. Act 88-550, eff. July 3, 1994 (adding 750 ILCS 50/20(b))) which became effective while the Does' petition for rehearing was pending in this court, take precedence over these proceedings. We disagree. For the reasons expressed later in this opinion, we find that neither the Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act nor the recent Adoption Act amendments apply to the instant case. As a consequence, Otto has properly filed the instant writ of habeas corpus which this court has jurisdiction to grant pursuant to article VI, section 4(a), of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, as well as Supreme Court Rule 381(a). The Does further argue, as does the public guardian, that Otto's habeas petition is improper because Richard is not being restrained in his liberty against his will. In support, they note that he is in the custody of the persons who have raised him since birth and, further, that his guardian ad litem, whose purpose is to safeguard Richard's interests, does not object to the Does' continued custody of Richard. However, the self-serving nature of this argument is readily apparent. As we have observed above, Otto, as Richard's natural father whose rights have not been terminated, has equal if not greater standing to assert what is in his son's best interests. To the extent that he disagrees with Richard's guardian ad litem, not to mention Richard's current custodians, Otto speaks for Richard and is entitled to file a writ of habeas corpus on Richard's behalf. Finally, noting that under Supreme Court Rule 381(a) this court does not have jurisdiction to entertain habeas petitions where factual questions must be decided, the Does argue that this court does not have jurisdiction because granting the instant habeas petition requires us to weigh facts to determine where Richard's best interests lie in awarding custody. In support, the Does cite Sullivan v. People ex rel. Heeney (1906), 224 Ill. 468, 477, 79 N.E. 695, for the proposition that upon the vacation of an adoption there must be a best-interests hearing to determine who should have custody of the improperly adopted child. The Does, however, grossly misread Sullivan on this point. In Sullivan, this court vacated the adoption because the married father did not have notice of the adoption of his daughter. ( Sullivan, 224 Ill. at 472, 79 N.E. 695.) However, because there was evidence that the father had abandoned his wife and child for six years prior to the adoption, the court remanded the case to the trial court to determine whether the father was unfit. ( Sullivan, 224 Ill. at 477, 79 N.E. 695.) In so doing, the court noted that the best interests of the child might require that her father not be vested with her custody upon the vacation of the adoption. Sullivan, 224 Ill. at 477, 79 N.E. 695. In claiming that Sullivan likewise requires a best-interests hearing in the instant case, the Does take the best-interests language of Sullivan out of context. Sullivan explicitly stated that upon the vacation of an adoption, custody of the child cannot remain with the would-be adoptive parent absent a finding that the natural parent is unfit. ( Sullivan, 224 Ill. at 476, 79 N.E. 695.) Though the Sullivan court spoke in terms of the best interests of the child and remanded the matter to the trial court for further proceedings, the proceeding ordered was not a best-interests hearing but, rather, a fitness hearing. Indeed, the Sullivan court emphatically stated that the child's father's rights were superior to the right of any other person in the event that he were subsequently adjudicated fit in the remanded proceedings. ( Sullivan, 224 Ill. at 476-77, 79 N.E. 695.) Because we have already ruled that Otto was fit as defined by the Adoption Act, Otto's rights are similarly superior to the right of any other person and a best-interests hearing would thus be improper. The Does also cite Giacopelli v. Florence Crittenton Home (1959), 16 Ill.2d 556, 158 N.E.2d 613, for the proposition that Otto must participate in a best-interests hearing and, thus, that a father can be divested of his right to the care, custody and control of his child without a finding of unfitness upon the vacation of an adoption where doing so is in the child's best interests. The Giacopelli mother and father were married and conceived a child when the mother was 44 years old. ( Giacopelli, 16 Ill.2d at 558, 158 N.E.2d 613.) The mother travelled from Missouri, where she and her husband lived, to visit a relative in Illinois. ( Giacopelli, 16 Ill.2d at 558, 158 N.E.2d 613.) While in Peoria, Illinois, she contacted the Florence Crittenton Home for unwed mothers and arranged to place the baby with an adoptive family. Upon the child's birth, the circuit court entered a finding of dependency and appointed a guardian, who subsequently placed the child with a family that intended to adopt the child. ( Giacopelli, 16 Ill.2d at 560-61, 158 N.E.2d 613.) When the father found out about this several months later, he successfully had the finding of dependency vacated for lack of notice and then sought the return of his child. ( Giacopelli, 16 Ill.2d at 562, 158 N.E.2d 613.) When the adoptive parents refused, the father filed a habeas petition seeking an order that his child be delivered to his care, custody and control. Upon consideration of the advantages of the home in which the child had been placed, the trial court found that it would be in the child's best interests if she were not returned to her father. ( Giacopelli, 16 Ill.2d at 563, 158 N.E.2d 613.) The appellate court reversed, noting that there had been no finding of unfitness and that a married father cannot be denied the care, custody and control of his child without first finding him unfit. ( Giacopelli, 16 Ill.2d at 563, 158 N.E.2d 613.) This court, however, reversed the appellate court and held that a married father could be denied his rights to the care, custody and control of his child without a finding of unfitness if this is in the child's best interests. Initially, we note that the holding of Giacopelli is clearly unconstitutional. Married parents cannot be deprived of the care, custody and control of their child without a prior showing of unfitness for the sole reason that doing so is thought to be in the child's best interests. ( Quilloin v. Walcott (1978), 434 U.S. 246, 255, 98 S.Ct. 549, 555, 54 L.Ed.2d 511, 520, citing Smith v. Organization of Foster Families for Equality & Reform (1977), 431 U.S. 816, 862-63, 97 S.Ct. 2094, 2119, 53 L.Ed.2d 14, 46 (Stewart, J., concurring in the judgment, joined by Burger, C.J., and Rehnquist, J.).) Rather, unfitness must first be found. ( Quilloin, 434 U.S. 246, 98 S.Ct. 549, 54 L.Ed.2d 511.) Thus, because Giacopelli dispenses with the need to find unfitness, it stands as an unconstitutional remnant of a bygone era and has no precedential value. The Does' contention that Giacopelli somehow requires that Otto be subjected to a best-interests hearing without first being found unfit is therefore meritless. [1] Moreover, the reasoning in Giacopelli does not comport with this court's more recent pronouncements regarding custody law and the difference between custody proceedings and adoption proceedings. In In re Custody of Townsend (1981), 86 Ill.2d 502, 508-09, 56 Ill.Dec. 685, 427 N.E.2d 1231, this court held: The superior-right doctrine or presumption in favor of the natural parent, however, need not always be applied automatically in conjunction with the best-interests-of-the-child standard. For example, in a dissolution-of-marriage proceeding, the superior-right doctrine will not be applied where both the natural parents are seeking custody of their children. Instead each starts out on equal footing, with the court ultimately determining custody `in accordance with the best interest of the child' [citation]. Under the Adoption Act [citation], on the other hand, both the superior-right doctrine [citation] and the best-interests standard are applied [citation], though in this setting, a court, before permitting adoption by a third party, may not terminate all parental rights, including custody, unless the parent or parents consent or are found to be `unfit.' (Emphasis added.) From Townsend it follows that, to the extent Giacopelli allows the termination of parental rights in adoption proceedings without a finding of unfitness, it is not the law of Illinois. See Robinson v. Neubauer (1967), 79 Ill. App.2d 362, 366-67, 223 N.E.2d 705 (following the concurrence in Giacopelli and not the majority). Although Townsend cites to Giacopelli and further finds that the father at issue need not be found unfit to award custody of his child to a third party, it does so pursuant to the Probate Act of 1975, which is only triggered upon the death of a parent, a situation we are not confronted with in the instant case. Unlike the Adoption Act, the Probate Act does not statutorily mandate a finding of unfitness as a condition precedent to divesting a parent of custody. (See 755 ILCS 5/11-7 (West 1992); see also People ex rel. Edwards v. Livingston (1969), 42 Ill.2d 201, 247 N.E.2d 417 (a probate case deciding custody based upon the best interests of the child without a prior finding of unfitness).) The best-interests standard employed pursuant to the Probate Act in Townsend and Edwards is thus inapplicable to the case at bar both because this case does not involve a deceased parent and because Otto's cause of action arises out of the Adoption Act, which mandates a finding of unfitness before parental rights may be terminated. Moreover, we note the extremely adverse public policy ramifications of holding that parents and their offspring can be deprived of the care, custody and control of the natural parent through the deceitful circumvention of the safeguards afforded natural parents in the Adoption Act: namely, the right to notice and the absolute right to veto the adoption absent a finding of unfitness. The sole issue, then, in the instant habeas proceeding is the legal question of the Does' asserted standing to request a custody hearing under either section 601(b)(2) of the Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (750 ILCS 5/601(b)(2) (West 1992)) or the amendment to the Adoption Act (Pub.Act 88-550, eff. July 3, 1994). Because we find, as a matter of law, that neither of these statutes applies in the instant case, there are no further factual issues to be determined. Thus, the issuance of the writ of habeas corpus by this court is a proper and just procedure.