Adoption of ConLey v. Walden

I dissent. In my view the adoption decree is void. The natural mother was not given notice of the adoption proceeding and afforded an opportunity to be heard. Instead her parental rights were permanently and irrevocably terminated without an opportunity to resist.

The issue on appeal is not res judicata. The prior case, Application of Conley v. Walden, 166 Mont. 369, 533 P.2d 955, 958, was a custody case, not an adoption proceeding. The issue there was the right to custody of the minor children, not the right to adopt them. The opinion of this Court in that prior case expressly points this out…