Anderson v. Barkman

Collins, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Elva I. Anderson, whose maiden name was Elva I. Hutzell, together with her husband, James D. Anderson, hereinafter called appellants, on June 21st, 1949, filed a petition in the Circuit Court for Allegany County for the adoption of Carol Ann Hutzell, born on March 28, 1947, to Elva I. Hutzell before her marriage to James D. Anderson. From a decree of the Circuit Court for Allegany County dated September 10, 1949, dismissing their petition, the appellants appeal to this Court. Chapter 599, Section 85A of the Acts of 1947, Article 16, Section 85A, Code 1947 Supplement, having statewide effect in Maryland by Chapter 19 of the Acts of the Extraordinary Session of 1947, .provides: “(Legislative Policy).

The General Assembly hereby declares its conviction that the policies and procedures for adoption contained in this sub-title are socially necessary and desirable, having as their purpose the three-fold protection of (1) the adoptive child, from unnecessary separation from his natural parents and from adoption by ⁹⁷ persons unfit to have such responsibility; (2) the natural parents, from hurried and abrupt decisions to give up the child; and (3) the adopting parents, by providing them information about the child and his background, and protecting them from subsequent disturbance of their relationships with the child by natural parents.” This Court has many times said that in adoption cases the Court must be satisfied that the best interest and welfare of the infant will be promoted by the adoption. Alston v. Thomas, 161 Md. 617 , 158 A. 24 ; Spencer v. Franks, 173 Md. 73 , 195 A. 306 , 114 A. L. R. 263; Lagumis v. Lagumis, 186 Md. 97 , 46 A. 2d 189 ; White v. Seward, 187 Md. 43, 47 , 48 A. 2d 335 ; Atkins v. Gose, 189 Md. 542 , 56 A. 2d 697 . The facts of this case for the purpose of this opinion follow'. After the birth of Carol Ann Hutzell in Allegany County she was taken on May 9, 1947, from the hospital to the home of Charles A. Barkman and Rhoda Barkman, hereinafter referred to as the appellees, with whom Elva I. Anderson had lived before the birth of the child.

On December 4, 1947, Elva I. Anderson, then Elva I. Hutzell, filed in the Circuit Court for Allegany County a petition for a writ of habeas corpus directed to the appellees, in which she stated that the infant Carol Ann Hutzell was unlawfully detained by the appellees who had refused to surrender possession of the child to the petitioner. She asked that the child be produced in Court together with proof of appellees’ right of custody for the purpose of determining the cause of her detention, and in order that further proceedings might be had. The writ was granted and after hearing the Circuit Court for Allegany County ordered on December 5, 1947, that Carol Ann Hutzell “shall remain temporarily with Charles A. Barkman and Rhoda Barkman, his wife; however, jurisdiction is retained by the Court for future disposition.” By Chapter 797 of the Acts of 1945, Sections 20 and 21 of Article 42, 1939 Code, (Habeas Corpus) relating to Procedure in Relation to Minors, were repealed and Sec ⁹⁸ tion 19 of the same article was made not to apply to Allegany and Garrett among other counties. Therefore, the Circuit Court for Allegany County had no jurisdiction to issue the aforesaid writ of habeas corpus or to pass its order of December 5, 1947, placing the custody of Carol Ann