Walker v. Gardner

Hammond, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Donald Gardner sought, and was granted, the adoption of ²⁸² eight year old Michilene Walker, the daughter of his wife, over the objection of the child’s father, Ralph W. Walker, II, who tells us the chancellor erred (a) in failing to find specifically that his consent to the adoption had been withheld contrary to the best interests of the child; and (b) in finding that the interests of the child best would be served by granting the adoption. Walker has never seen his daughter. He and her mother married in October, 1949, and separated in May or June, 1950.

The evidence was that during the brief marriage there were many separations because Walker subjected his wife to constant mental and physical abuse, even knocking her down and kicking her. One night in the spring of 1950, while Mrs. Walker was living with her mother, Walker sent two of their mutual friends to intercede with her to return to him. Mrs. Walker and one of the men went out to bring back something to eat. As they started out in the car, Wálker “bobbed up out of the back seat” and started beating his wife with his fists.

He took his wife to his apartment and chained her to. a bed. She was rescued later by one of the two friends who threatened to call the police if Walker did not let her go. In December, 1950, Walker got an Arkansas divorce. There was testimony that he had been told that his wife was pregnant but he made no mention or provision for the support of a child in the divorce proceedings.

Mrs. Walker remarried in 1951 and that marriage ended six years later in divorce. In 1957 she married Donald Gardner, the appellee. They have a daughter who was three months old at the time of the hearing. The couple, their child and Michilene live in a duplex apartment in a good neighborhood near Washington.

Gardner is described as a clean-cut, wholesome young man, who is religious, reserved, intelligent and studious, and of pleasing personality. He is a college graduate, who served three years in the Air Force, and now works for the Navy as a management analyst. The chancellor found from the testimony and demeanor of the couple, the testimony of a friend who knew the home, and the investigation report that after two unfortunate marital experiences, Mrs. Gardner had found a happy and harmonious marriage that would endure, saying ²⁸³ that if this were not so, adoption would not even be considered as being in the child’s best interest. The report found Gardner to be devoted to his wife and very fond of Michilene.

Walker was convicted of several crimes when a young man. He has undergone psychiatric treatment. There was testimony that he performed an abortion on a girl with whom he was alleged to have had relations while he was married to Michilene’s mother. He has been married four times and has six children, three by his present wife, “a fine woman * * * who holds a master’s degree,” who is considerably older than he, and one by each of the other three wives.

Over Walker’s objections, Judge Lawlor had granted a petition for the adoption of another of his children some months' before the present proceedings. The investigation report appraised Walker as evasive, cunning, emotional and unstable. The chancellor found him to be entirely selfish, one who thought only of himself and not at all of Michilene or her welfare and best interest. Walker testified he had written many letters and made many calls in an effort to see Michilene, although he could specify only three letters, one in 1951 and two in late 1958.

In the latter two he says he enclosed checks for twenty-five dollars, although one was post dated one year. He has never contributed in fact to Michilene’s support. The mother says that after a card and a box sent to Michilene by Walker on her first birthday, nothing was heard from him until 1958, when he sent two letters and two cards, a birthday card and an Easter card. She and her husband decided the best thing for the child would be to return the letters and withhold the cards from the child.

The chancellor found that, as in the earlier adoption case, Walker had made only perfunctory efforts to communicate with his child and