Stout v. Tippecanoe County Department of Public Welfare

SHIELDS, Judge.

Stouts appeal from summary judgment granted by the trial court in favor of the Tippecanoe County Department of Public Welfare [Department] in an adoption proceeding in which Stouts sought adoption of a minor ward of the Department. The trial court granted summary judgment based on the Department’s refusal to consent to the adoption and its refusal to place the child in the Stouts’ home. We reverse and remand.

The trial court summarized in its findings of fact the particulars resulting in this appeal:

1. John Joe Bowling, minor subject of the petition, was born November 8, 1972,…