Rettew Adoption Case

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Musmanno,

LaVerne Donald Rettew and Mary Margaret Drennan were married on December 6, 1958, and to them was born, on November 26, 1959, a child whom they named Stephen Robert, the subject of this lawsuit.

In the early part of 1962, Mary Margaret manifested signs of emotional instability and she was hospitalized on March 16th of that year in the Embree ville State Hospital. She apparently recovered quickly because she was released in three weeks. However, three months later her nerves tangled again and a stay of some five weeks in the hospital was required to untie the…