In Interest of Angel Lace M.

HEFFERNAN, CHIEF JUSTICE

(dissenting). The issue addressed in this case is whether the Wisconsin statutes governing adoption allow Annette G. to adopt Angel, a child with whom she already has a functional parent-child relationship. The adoption statutes on their face do not address this issue. Therefore, this court must employ accepted canons of statutory construction to interpret the meaning of the adoption statutes. Much has been written about the nature of the canons of construction and the fact that contradictory canons exist that would lead to opposite results if applied to the same…