Adoption of Donald

When this case first appeared here, Adoption of Donald, 44 Mass. App. Ct. 857 (1998), we held that termination of parental rights, even when made pursuant to G. L. c. 119, § 26(4), and not under separate petition filed under G. L. c. 210, § 3, rendered moot a finding of the need for care and protection, and that the period for appeal is the sixty-day period provided by Mass.R.A.P. 4(a), and not the ten-day period established in G. L. c. 119, § 27.2 The case is now here for review of the substantive issues raised by the mother in her appeal. We affirm the decree of the District Court.

1. The…