In Re Adoption of a Minor

BAZELON, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from the District Court’s denial of a petition for adoption of a child, filed by the natural mother 1 and stepfather. Petitioners’ pertinent allegations are: The child was born out of wedlock in 1949. The natural father, who is white, has never supported the child and his whereabouts are unknown. The mother, a housewife, is white; she consents to adoption by the stepfather, a Negro, whom she married in 1951. The child has no income or property and has lived with petitioners since their marriage. The stepfather is a taxicab driver by occupation. He and…