Adoption of a Minor

This is a dispute over the custody and adoption of a boy now four years old. The unmarried mother was the victim of a homicide, and the Department of Public Welfare (the department) obtained custody of the child. A Boston man had been adjudicated the father, but he had no desire to obtain custody; his mother (the grandmother) and her husband sought to obtain custody and to adopt the child, with the consent of the mother’s sister. The department opposed their petitions, and a judge of the Probate Court awarded custody to the department. We hold that in the totality of circumstances, including…