Brendoff v. Titus

Mooee, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The paternal grandparents of a little girl born out of wedlock on October 12, 1971, were awarded a decree of adoption over the objection of the natural mother. After a full hearing in open court, the chancellor delivered an oral opinion from the bench, stating in part: “This is not a question of taking a child from the home of the mother and father and giving it to someone else, but it is merely the question of a child born out of wedlock in which the father of the child consents to his parents adopting her and the mother of the child, offering a home with a new husband, objects to it. “I take into account there may be other contributing causes, but when we compare her life as disclosed here, taking, as I say, the undisputed facts and her past history, and compare that with the home the Tituses offer and the history of that family and its unquestioned stability and suitability for raising a child, I do not feel that I have any choice but to grant the petition to adopt, keeping in mind that the paramount consideration of the Court is the welfare of the child. That welfare can only be served by putting the child in a stable home where she will have an opportunity to receive the benefits of that stability.” Code (1973 Repl.

Vol.), Art. 16, § 74 (d) requires the consent of the mother of a child born out of wedlock, if ⁴¹⁴ living, and if she has not “lost her parental rights through court action or voluntary relinquishment or abandonment.” With respect to consents generally, § 74 provides, as does Maryland Rule D73, that the Court may grant a petition for adoption if it finds after hearing that the consent has been withheld “contrary to the best interests of the child.” The chancellor did not find, in our reading, that the natural mother “abandoned” the child within the meaning of the Code nor did he expressly find that the mother withheld her consent contrary to the child’s best interests. We have reviewed carefully the testimony of all witnesses at the hearing below and the chancellor’s findings and conclusions. While we do not hold that he was clearly erroneous in his factual findings, we do conclude that the evidence was not sufficient to support the statutory requirements and that the determination made was not in the child’s best interests. Schwartz v. Hudgins, 12 Md. App. 419 , 278 A. 2d 652 (1971).

The petitioning grandparents, Frank and Katherine Titus, were 50 and 52, respectively, at the time of the hearing on July 9, 1973 and the parents of five sons whose ages were 27, 26, 24, 15 and 12. The second son, Raymond Titus, is the father of the adoptee, Deborah Kay Titus, who will be three years old on October 12, 1974. They were granted the guardianship, care and custody of Deborah by Order of the Circuit Court No. 2 of Baltimore City on May 23, 1972. Appellant’s brief concedes that the child is well cared for and that the grandparents’ home “is a wholesome and proper one for her upbringing.” Mr. Titus is self-employed in the home improvement business.

He allowed his son Raymond and Wanda Bren doff (formerly Wanda Schlichting) to live together for a time in the Titus home, Wanda being separated from her husband. He hoped, he said, that they would ultimately marry and lead a “decent life.” Later, he put them out when both of them quit their jobs. Wanda first went to an apartment and then resided at the home of her mother, both before and after the birth of Deborah. The natural mother, age 24 at the time of the hearing, was first married at the age of 14 to James Schlichting, by whom ⁴¹⁵ she had four children, three of whom were residing with the paternal grandmother.

The fourth child was given up for adoption by Wanda at the hospital where the child was born, pursuant to arrangements made prior to the birth and with Mr. Schlichting’s consent. She was divorced from Schlichting on June 22, 1973 and the next day was married to Paul Brendoff, also recently divorced, but with whom she had been living for about fifteen months prior to their marriage. Wanda was several months pregnant with Paul’s child at the time of the hearing. Mr. Brendoff testified that he was willing to adopt Deborah.

He also wanted Wanda to regain custody of her three other children. He works steadily as a truck driver, earning twelve to eighteen thousand dollars per year. His former wife divorced him on grounds of adultery and he is required to pay child support of $51.50 per week, and admitted that he was in arrears. The care of Deborah by the grandparents began on November 12, 1971 when the maternal grandmother, Anne Louise Garrett (formerly Harris), informed the Tituses that the child was ill and in need of food.

They brought her to the doctor and then to their home. She was there about one week, Mrs. Titus testified, “when Wanda came and got her.” Several weeks later, “when Wanda was put out of where she was living,” she brought her back again and they had her until after New Year’s.— approximately two weeks. On February 3, 1972 Wanda went to the Titus home and, according to Mrs. Titus: “The baby was sick at the time, which Wanda knew, and she got my son and I on the pretense to take her to get the baby’s picture taken and when she did she took the baby from us. (Emphasis added.) On or about February 26, 1972, the Tituses again took Deborah and brought her to the hospital.

The doctor diagnosed the child as asthmatic and prescribed medication. Mr, and Mrs. Titus obtained the prescriptions and again took the baby home. It is their version of the facts that Wanda had left Deborah with an elderly woman in an apartment ⁴¹⁶ downstairs; that they had gone to the apartment with Wanda’s mother and the baby sitter was not present. Mr. Titus testified that he called the police and was informed that he had no right to take the child but that the baby sitter called them later and requested that they come and take Deborah — and they did.

Wanda testified that she and girl friend, Celeste, had gone to a party on a boat in Baltimore Harbor about 3 p.m. Celeste’s baby and Deborah were left with the baby sitter who was not elderly but about 35. She was told that the apartment shared by Celeste and Wanda was open “if she needed anything in the way of food or clothes.” Then, according to Wanda: “When I came back home the next morning — it was overnight. That’s how the party went.

Anyway about, I’d say, 4:00 a.m. in the morning she said the Tituses came over and took the baby away from her, actually pulled her out of her arms. She said the grandmother and the father did it. I don’t know how true it was, but I took it for granted that’s what it was. I called the Tituses and they said they wouldn’t bring her back.

I demanded them to, but they said no. I called the Court and they said nothing could be done until morning, whatever time the Court opened up. Then I could take out the warrant and 1 did.” (Emphasis added.) The warrant charged kidnapping. Mr. and Mrs. Titus were apprehended, handcuffed and jailed overnight.

The court ordered them to return the child and there were no further proceedings. After this occurrence, Wanda would take Deborah to the Titus home for weekend visitations. Apparently as a direct consequence of their arrest, however, the grandparents thereafter petitioned the court for custody, and after investigation and a court hearing at which Wanda did not appear, the petition was granted in May, 1973. According to Wanda, she did not appear because she did not understand a “show cause order” and had been advised by a deputy sheriff whom she knew that so long as she had not ⁴¹⁷ been served with a summons, she did not have to “show up in court... so I disregarded the papers.” Under questioning by the court, she stated that the papers had been served on February 12, 1972.

When asked if she had read them, she