In re Adoption of H.H.O.W.

FAIR, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. During a turbulent period in their lives, unmarried parents Gavin Wallace and Brigit Clark left their nine-month-old son Henry in the care of Gavin’s sister and her husband, Alexis and Peter Hammond.1 For about three years the natural parents had limited contact with Henry, until the Hammonds filed a petition to terminate their parental rights and adopt him. The chancellor found that Gavin and Brigit’s total failure to visit Henry had produced a substantial erosion of the parent/child relationship, a statutory ground to terminate their parental rights.2 The…