Court Opinion

ID: 9669209
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:43:16.60327+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:53.798210
License: Public Domain

SMITH, Judge,
concurring.
I fully concur with the majority opinion. I add this opinion simply to address certain of the contentions advanced by the dissent.
First, it appears to me that whenever the rights of the natural parents have been terminated, whether by consent or otherwise, it is in the best interests of the child that it be adopted. The court’s discretion therefore does not run to whether an adoption should take place but whether the adoption as proposed is in the best interests of the child.
Second, I am unaware of any doctrine that requires a court to determine that the placement sought is in the “best” home available as indicated by the dissent. The function of the juvenile court is not to compare a series of adoptive parents and homes and place the child in the one it determines is “best” (if in fact any such determination can objectively be made). Its function is to determine whether the proposed adoptive parents provide a good stable home and environment for the child. A natural child is not even guaranteed that much. The record here clearly demonstrates such a home and environment in this case.
Third, I find nothing sinister about the placement here. There has been no violation of any law of Missouri including Sec. 453.110, RSMo 1978. The child has been in the custody of the Missouri Division of *397Family Services since birth. Payment of the delivery expenses of the natural mother and medical care for the newborn is commonly required of adoptive parents whether the placement is through a private or a public agency. Although the proposed adoptive parents tendered $90 to the agency for medical bills that check was never cashed and was to be returned to them. They understood that subject to court approval they would pay medical expenses.
Fourth, there is no common friend of the natural and adoptive parents. The adoptive parents have a friend who has a friend who had “heard” of an unmarried girl who wanted to give up her baby for adoption. The adoptive parents advised their friend to contact a lawyer and give him the girl’s name. The lawyer in turn contacted the natural mother. That lawyer did not represent the adoptive parents after the child's birth and neither received nor will receive any money for his services. The adoptive parents do not know the identity of the natural parents.
Fifth, I cannot accept the implication that the agency involved here, licensed by the State of Missouri as a child placement agency, is to be suspected of inadequately investigating the placement or reporting it in a biased fashion to the court.
I find nothing in this record to support the exercise of discretion to deny placing custody in this couple and therefore concur in the majority opinion.