Susan W. v. Talbot G.

Subdivision 2 of section 111 of the Domestic Relations Law provides that a natural parent must give consent to the adoption of his or her child by another unless the natural parent has abandoned the child. The question in this case is whether the respondent natural father abandoned his three children to their mother, his former wife, and her second husband who has petitioned for their adoption.

Talbot G., the natural father, married Susan (G.) W. in Hawaii in 1959. Three children were born of the marriage which ended in divorce in early 1964. Susan at that time brought the children to New York…