Sparks v. Phelps

r On February 18, 1974, defendant, John Phelps, and his wife, Kathleen D. Phelps, filed a petition for adoption of Stacy Yvette, his natural daughter. They contacted the child’s mother, Janice Kay Sparks, and sought unsuccessfully to gain her consent. Promptly thereafter the latter filed this habeas corpus proceeding seeking return of the child. The. trial court following a hearing denied the petition for the writ and entered judgment accordingly. Plaintiff mother appeals.

A brief statement of the facts as we glean them from the sketchy and inadequate record is necessary to an understanding of…