In the Interest of D.R.L.M.

OPINION

SUE WALKER, Justice.

I.Introduction.

In this case, we decide two primary issues. We address the appropriate standard to be applied by the trial court in deciding whether to place half-sisters who have never lived together in the same adoptive home and whether the trial court’s refusal to place a child with the persons named in a mother’s voluntary affidavit of relinquishment affects the vol-untariness of the affidavit. See Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 162.302(e) (Vernon Supp. 2002).1

The trial court terminated the parental rights of D.R.L.M.’s biological parents. Two families 2, the Smiths, who…