Adoption of a Minor

This is an appeal by the father of a minor child from a decree of the Middlesex Probate Court allowing adoption by the mother and stepfather, who are citizens of Massachusetts, without the consent of the father, following a hearing on the petition.

The transcript of evidence on the hearing is before us and the judge could have found as follows. The appellant and his former wife were married in Battleboro, North Carolina, on August 21, 1958. The minor child, Deborah, was born on February 10, 1960. Her father and mother lived together in North Carolina until September 29, 1963, when they…