Court Opinion

ID: 9766303
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:40:30.939024+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:21.123571
License: Public Domain

MANDERINO, Justice
(dissenting).
I join in the dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Pomeroy. In addition, I would like to voice my objection to the majority’s unjustified judicial amendment of the Adoption Act. Section 411(3) requires the consent of the adoptee’s “parents” before an adoption will be approved unless the parents’ rights to the child have been involuntarily terminated pursuant to the Adoption Act. The majority, however, holds that appellee, Robert Young, is a “parent by estoppel.” The clear implication of the majority opinion is that the consent of a “parent by estoppel” is required even if that person is not the natural parent.
Moreover, even if we assumed the propriety of the majority’s use of the estoppel concept against appellant, Judith Goodling, it should not be used against appellant, Robert Goodling: he was not a party to the support agreement; he did not receive any support payments; nor was he a party to the custody proceeding. These considerations therefor should not be used to estop appellant Robert Goodling from exercising his statutory right to question whether appellee is the natural father of the child.