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Consent Of 'Unfit' Parents Needed For Adoption—Unless Their Rights Are First Terminated, Susan W. Gibson
Consent Of 'Unfit' Parents Needed For Adoption—Unless Their Rights Are First Terminated, Susan W. Gibson
Mercer Law Review
In Johnson v. Eidson, the Georgia Supreme Court held that "moral unfitness" of natural parents is not an exception to the statutory prerequisite that natural parents consent to their children's adoption.
The maternal grandparents of Lewis and Jimmy Lynn Johnson had petitioned the court to allow them to adopt their grandchildren without the consent of the natural parents. Their petition was based on (1) their temporary custody of the children, which was granted by a juvenile court after the children had been found in a condition of neglect; (2) abandonment by the natural parents; and (3) the unfit and …
The State Vs. The Family: Does Intervention Really Spare The Child?, Susan R. Rogers
The State Vs. The Family: Does Intervention Really Spare The Child?, Susan R. Rogers
Mercer Law Review
Courts all across this country are attempting to balance the interests of children and parents. It has long been the general rule that natural parents, if considered fit, have the right to the custody of their children, uninterrupted even by a state exercising its parens-patriae power. This right of the natural parent has traditionally taken precedence over the interests of everyone else, including the best interests of the child.
There has been a recent trend, however, toward paying more attention to what the court feels is in the best interests of the child. Although the law is still weighted in …