In re M. A. F.

Smith, Justice.

MAF is an eight-year-old, illegitimate child who has lived with and been loved and supported by the appellant since he was four weeks old. He was removed from her custody without notice or a hearing based on a petition filed on behalf of the appellee, Newton County Department of Family and Children Services (NCDFCS), after the biological parents, who had abandoned the child years earlier, attempted to surrender their rights to the NCDFCS. We reverse.

The events leading to this appeal that reached us by way of certiorari are both procedurally and factually complex.1 When MAF was…