Winter v. Director of the Department of Public Welfare

Prescott, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The only question involved in this appeal is whether Section 72 of Article 16 of the Code (1957) violates the provisions of the federal constitution. It reads, in part, as follows : “A petition for adoption, as hereinafter described, may be preceded by a petition for guardianship with the right to consent to adoption, and such guardianship decree, which the courts having jurisdiction of adoption matters may require and shall have power ³⁹⁴ to grant after such hearing and investigation as the court may deem appropriate, shall terminate natural parental rights, provided that due notice of the proceedings shall have been given immediately upon the filing of the petition by summons, order of publication, or otherwise, as the court may order to be given to the natural parent or parents, * * *” It must be considered in conjunction with the other sections relating to adoptions, and, especially, with that part of section 74 which provides that the court may grant a petition for adoption without parental consent “if, after a hearing the court finds that such consent or consents are withheld contrary to the best interests of the child.” (Italics added.) The appellant is the father of a boy, who is now about fifteen years of age. When the child was a few months old, his mother died, after having placed him in the Henry Watson Children’s Aid Society (Society).

When still very young, he was committed to the care of the Department of Welfare by the Circuit Court of Baltimore City. Since the age of fourteen months, he has remained in the same foster home under the supervision of the Society, and these foster parents are the prospective adopting parents. A petition for guardianship under the provisions of section 72 was filed by the appellee and the appellant refused to consent to the granting of the relief prayed. The court, over the objection of the appellant, signed a decree granting the guardianship of the son with the right to consent to adoption unto the Director of the Department of Welfare.

While the appellant raises no questions concerning the best interests and the present and future welfare of the boy, it may be well to note the relationship between the father and the son in the past. The father has had no direct contact with the son since his birth. The father was sentenced to a penal institution in 1943 for a period of twenty years. He was paroled in 1951, but was returned to prison within a year for violating his parole.

He was again paroled in 1954, and he again violated his parole. Finally, in 1955, he was sentenced to nine years’- confinement in the Maryland Penitentiary. ³⁹⁵ The record does not disclose that the father has ever contributed to the support of the son. While the right of adoption was known to the ancients of Greece and Rome and many other nations, it was unknown to the common law of England, and exists in this country in those jurisdictions having that law as the basis of their jurisprudence, only as the result of statutes. 1 Am. Jur.

Adoption of Children, sec. 3; Hillers v. Taylor, 108 Md. 148 ; Spencer v. Franks, 173 Md. 73 . Maryland passed its first adoption statute many years ago, but this case seems to be the first time that the constitutionality of such legislation has been directly attacked. The appellant claims: (1) that the statute under consideration abridges the privileges and immunities guaranteed to him as a citizen of the United States under the fourteenth amendment of the federal constitution; and (2) that it is violative of the first amendment thereof, which states that congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. I Adoption statutes that violate no specific constitutional requirements or restrictions have been uniformly held to be valid. 2 C. J. S. Adoption of Children, sec. 5; 1 Am.

Jur. Adoption of Children, sec. 4; Cabrillos v. Angel, 278 F. 174 (C. C. A. 9th); Purinton v. Jamrock, 80 N. E. 802, 805 (Mass.); Nugent v. Powell, 33 P. 23, 30 (Wyo.); and see many cases collected in 1 Sixth Decennial Digest, Adoption, key number 2. The power of state legislatures to provide,