Alston v. Thomas

Parke, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. John Thomas and Lillian Thomas, his wife', filed a bill of complaint against Thomas Alston and his unnamed infant child for the purpose of obtaining a decree which would adjudge the infant Alston to be the adopted child of the complainants, and change the name of the infant to John Thomas. Thomas Alston, the father, filed an answer, and the cause went to trial before' the chancellor, who, after hearing the witnesses, awarded the permanent care and custody of the infant to- the plaintiffs, but reserved the matter of the adoption of the infant and the proposed change of his name for further consideration. It is from this decree that the father has taken an appeal. ⁶¹⁹ Jennie Alston, the wife of Thomas Alston, was an insane patient at Bay View Hospital, where she gave birth to an infant son on March 26th, 1930.

The mother never left the hospital, ancl died there on January 4th, 1931. The baby was kept at the hospital during the nursing period, and did not leave until in September, 1930, when he was placed in the home of the plaintiffs. Although denied by the father, there does not seem to be any reasonable basis for disbelief that the accredited nurse at the hospital went to the father’s home and found living there in crowded quarters the father and four daughters, whose ages ranged from fourteen, nine, seven and five years; that the father was asked if he could take care of the infant, and that his reply was that he could not, but would be obliged if a home could be found not only for the baby, but also for one of his other daughters. Acting upon this assent, the officers of the hospital delivered the child into the care and custody of the plaintiffs in September, 1930, after an investigation had informed the hospital authorities that the plaintiffs were a childless colored couple of respectability and good character, and able comfortably and properly to support, maintain, and educate the infant in accordance with his station in life.

The nurse at the hospital had an attorney prepare a paper by which the father consented to the adoption of the infant by the plaintiffs; and she left this document with the father, and later repeatedly went to his home, but did not find him there, and his signature was never obtained. The father was indifferent to the baby’s existence, and did not attempt to get the child out of the hospital, nor did he know what had become of the baby, because he did not make .any inquiry until the baby had been in the custody of the plaintiffs for three or four months. Then the officials of the Family Welfare Society asked of the hospital what had been done with the baby, and stated that Alston wanted the infant, as he had found a relative who would take care of his babies. A representative of this organization first visited the home of the plaintiffs, after the infant had been with them four months, and then Lillian Thomas and her father ⁶²⁰ and mother went to the officer of this charitable society and met the father, who said he did not want the child to be adopted, bnt to be returned to him to raise.

Our conclusion on the whole record is that the father had abandoned the child, and the child had become a public charge when tiie arrangements were made with the plaintiffs to take the child and rear him as their own. In the four months of their care and charge of the baby, the plaintiffs had grown to love him, and, when the father’s attitude changed and their right to the custody of the