Court Opinion

ID: 9752191
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 17:42:58.345344+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:09.141453
License: Public Domain

Hammond, J.,
filed the following dissenting opinion.
I dissent reluctantly and only because I have been compelled to conclude that the best interests of the boy will be furthered by keeping him with his grandparents, who have demonstrated that they can lovingly and effectively raise him in a good home in which he is content and happy. Determining the best interests of a child in a custody or adoption case results from applying judgment to the set of circumstances involved, and try as I can, I am not persuaded' that the careful, sincere and conscientious efforts of Judge Prendergast below and Judge Oppenheimer for the Court on appeal to exercise such judgment wisely have been achieved. For the facts and inescapable inferences which the record and the opinion below and on appeal paint clearly for all who are interested to see (and which it is not necessary to emphasize further), neither the father nor the mother offer the boy anything like the chance that the grandparents do to develop character, achieve a good lay and religious education and achieve success and happiness as a useful citizen.
I would reverse.