Opinion ID: 2612476
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: nature and effect of adoption

Text: Adoption was unknown to the common law; the basis and results are conferred by statute. In re Frazier's Estate, 180 Or. 232, 249, 177 P.2d 254 (1947); Long v. Dufur, 58 Or. 162, 170, 113 P. 59 (1911); Furgeson v. Jones, 17 Or. 204, 217, 20 P. 842 (1888); 2 C.J.S. 420-21, Adoption of Persons. The state is a party to all adoptions. In re Flora's Adoption, 152 Or. 155, 159, 52 P.2d 178 (1935). In an adoption, a court is asked to terminate every right and interest of the natural parent. Simons et ux v. Smith, 229 Or. 277, 281, 366 P.2d 875 (1961). ORS 109.430; ORS 109.381. [6] In an adoption proceeding, an Oregon court must first determine that a parent consents or that there is a statutory substitute for consent before it may turn to the second question of whether the requested adoption should, in the best interests of the child, be granted. As the court stated in Simons et ux v. Smith, supra at 285, 366 P.2d 875, Once a parent appears and objects, his objection is binding, unless by giving attention to the requirements of at least one other statute which sets forth a recognizable and defensible ground for cutting off the natural rights of parents the trial court can properly conclude that the objector has no further rights. Accord, Moody v. Voorhies, 257 Or. 105, 109, 475 P.2d 579 (1970). Concerning the pivotal role of consent or a substitute for it in adoptions, Strobel v. Garrison, 255 Or. 16, 459 P.2d 1001 (1969), reh. den. 255 Or. 16, 464 P.2d 688 (1970), held that consent to adopt, even when given to an adoption placement agency, may be withdrawn, absent estoppel, before a decree is entered or before a statutory time period runs. Hughes v. Aetna Casualty Co., 234 Or. 426, 383 P.2d 55 (1963), held that a decree of adoption, entered 34 years earlier, was void because the child's mother gave no consent and no notice was served on her. Consent of a foundling home agency was, absent the parent's consent, ineffectual. The lesson drawn from these cases is that termination of parental rights is the first step or stage of a two-stage proceeding, whether the two stages are separated, as they are where ORS chapter 419 is used, or combined, as they are in ORS chapter 109 adoptions such as this one.