Crump v. Montgomery

Prescott, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is an appeal by the petitioners below, Lloyd R. and Dorothy V. Crump, (the Crumps) from a decree entered by the Circuit Court for Wicomico County, dismissing the petition of the Crumps for the adoption of a minor child and decreeing the adoption of said child by Arthur P. and Blanche P. Montgomery, (the Montgomerys), who had also petitioned the court for the adoption of the child. The child, Johnnie, was born in May of 1957 to an unwed mother. When he was seven days old, he was placed by the Montgomery County Welfare Board (Montgomery Board), which later received from his mother a written right to consent to his adoption, in the home of the Crumps, in Montgomery County, for foster care and pre-adoptive study.

The Crumps had received five other foster children from the Montgomery Board and cared for them satisfactorily—not more than two being in their home at any one time. When first placed with the Crumps, it was thought Johnnie would ⁵¹⁷ be placed for adoption within three to six months. However, they were notified in a few months by a welfare worker that he was not adoptable, because of his showing in his early psychological tests. In later psychological tests, the child showed such improvement (his rating was then slightly below average) that he was rated as eligible for adoption and the Crumps were informed of this fact in September of 1958.

During the intervening months (about 15) that Johnnie had been in their home, the Crumps had become very much attached to him and strongly desired him to be their adopted son. Oral requests concerning the adoption of Johnnie were frequently made by the Crumps to the Montgomery Board worker, but they were told, as they had been before, that they were not eligible as adoptive parents, due to the fact that they were foster parents, and also because the Montgomery Board had “closed its adoption list.” 1 Following the determination that Johnnie was adoptable, his name was placed on the roll of children in that category with the State Welfare Department in Baltimore, which roll is designated as a child “Pool.” The testimony does not make the method of operation of this “Pool” certain, but it seems that the children’s names (probably minus their surnames), together with their backgrounds, are sent to Baltimore, where they are, in turn, sent to the various Welfare Boards throughout the state to be considered for adoption by prospective adoptive parents who have made application to them. Johnnie’s name came to the attention of the Wicomico County Welfare Board (Wicomico Board), which had such an application from the Montgomerys, who had already adopted one child through that Board. The Wicomico Board notified the Montgomerys, who, after consultation with the Board, consideration of Johnnie’s background and an interview with him in Montgomery County, decided they would like to have him as their adopted son. ⁵¹⁸ Much time was consumed and testimony taken below concerning the conduct of the Montgomery Board in taking Johnnie from the Crump home and transferring him to Wicomico County; but, as we have so frequently said and repeated that in this class of cases the welfare and best interests of the child should be the paramount considerations of the Courts, 2 we eliminate many collateral facts and proceed as directly as possible to the real issues involved.

The Montgomery Board, over the protests of the Crumps, placed the custody of the child in the Wicomico Board for adoption, and thereafter, without any independent investigation of their own of the Montgomerys and without investigating the Crumps as possible adoptive parents, joined the Wicomico Board in consenting to the adoption of Johnnie by the Montgomerys. Petitions for adoption were filed in the Wicomico County Circuit Court by both the Montgomerys and the Crumps. The Montgomery Board requested, and was granted, leave to intervene in the Montgomerys’ petition; and, thereafter, the suits were consolidated for trial. The testimony disclosed that Mr. and Mrs. Crump were 34 and 32 years of age, respectively, and had been married 12 years; they had one natural daughter, aged eleven, who was living with them; Mr. Crump had been an orphan himself and stated he desired to give some of the things that he had missed as a child to Johnnie; for the last six years they had lived in a modern brick bungalow in a desirable residential neighborhood in Silver Spring, Maryland; that Mr. Crump had been employed by the United States Government for nine years and was a scientist and engineer, receiving a salary of $7,200 per year, which was supplemented by approximately $5,000 per year, from his publications, inventions and private enterprises; one witness said that he was a “brilliant scientist”; that he was a steady, reliable and industrious worker; that Mrs. Crump was unemployed and spent her ⁵¹⁹ time in the care of the home, her child and the foster children; that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Crump indulged in alcoholic beverages and they were a compatible and congenial couple; and that the children in their home were receiving proper religious instructions.

In summary, the learned Chancellors below found that the testimony of “all of the witnesses who were familiar with the situation shows the Crump home to be an excellent one, * * * the care given to little Johnnie was all that could be desired, and no one, certainly not this Court, offers the slightest criticism of their conduct while the little boy was in their custody,” but “[o]n the contrary, we wholeheartedly commend their conduct and what they have done for this little boy.” The testimony also disclosed that the Montgomerys are splendid people and maintain a nice home. Mr. Montgomery was 41 years of age—his wife 31—and they had been married about 15 years. They were living in a “comfortable, modest and attractive” home in a wholesome residential community on the outskirts of Salisbury, with one daughter—4 years of age—whom they had previously adopted. His home and automobile were fully paid for and he had money in the bank.

The wife was a high school graduate, while the husband had stopped his formal education when through the eleventh grade, but had taken several vocational courses when in the armed services during the war. Mr. Montgomery had been employed by the Eastern Shore Public Service Company since 1948, starting as a member of a line crew and his “job,” at the time of the hearing below, was “maintenance and utility.” He received $2.18, per hour, from which he derived about $5,000 yearly. He and Mrs. Montgomery were, also, a compatible couple, who were attentive to, and mindful of, their children’s welfare. She was unemployed and spent her time in the care of her home where she saw that the children were receiving proper religious training.

The Chancellors expressed their “complete approval and satisfaction with Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery as well as with the home they maintain.” The Montgomery Board objected to the Crumps as adop ⁵²⁰ tive parents for Johnnie on two grounds: first, that in their opinion the child would be “over-placed”; and, second, it had not investigated their home for adoptive purposes in accordance with their policies. The Montgomery Board, while it advocated the wisdom of its established policy (not consistently applied) of not considering foster-care parents as eligible to become adoptive parents, concedes that this policy is not binding upon a court, which has the final authority to approve or disapprove a proposed adoption. The “over-placed” objection was based upon the fact that Mr. Crump was a well-educated, highly intelligent young man, who might, because Johnnie was slightly “below average” in his psychological tests, become dissatisfied with the boy and exert “pressure” upon him if the child were unable to exhibit a very high degree of intellectual ability. 3 The Chancellors expressed serious doubt upon this point, stating: “We are not altogether in agreement with the position that an intelligent man should be penalized by being prohibited from adopting a child whose home and background is not apparently up to his standard, and especially is this so when the child is only 18 or 20 months old, and any determination of the capacity of the child to grow in intelligence must be speculative at this stage of his life. * * *. On the face of the situation as we see it, without the ability to look in the future, it might well be that the possibilities offered in a home [such] as the Crumps under the guidance of a father with the education and with the ability he is said to have and the potentialities that might result from that might indicate that the young boy could, and would approach the future and manhood and man’s responsibilities better educated and better prepared to successfully meet the competition which all young men must meet eventually.

We would he inclined to say that such ⁵²¹ a home would be more beneficial to him.” (Emphasis supplied.) With reference to the fact that the Montgomery Board did not investigate the Crumps as adoptive parents (a fact which, of itself, could have little, if any, bearing upon the outcome of the case), there can be little doubt that the Director and, at least, some of his workers knew the Crumps wanted to adopt Johnnie; and the Board’s failure to make an adoptive investigation was due to its general policy not even to consider foster parents as prospective adoptive ones. Had the matter of alleged over-placing been fully explored, it may have satisfied the Chancellors that their opinion, quoted above, was sound. It will be noted that the only testimony regarding the child’s intellectual potentiality was the psychological tests given when very young. There was no other testimony concerning his background, other than that his mother was unwed.

There was little of the hereditary background of any of the prospective parents given in evidence. And there was no professional investigation of the Crump home as an adoptive home, either by the Wicomico or Montgomery Boards or by an independent investigation directed by the court. The results of Johnnie’s early psychological tests would possibly be a matter of real concern as to his “over-placement” if they disclosed some serious impediment in his mentality, or if they could be correlated to his mental potential at any time in the future. However, while such tests are valuable in the ascertainment of a young child’s current development, when given at the ages Johnnie’s were, the text-writers and agencies seem to agree that they have small predictive value and