Vela v. Marywood

LEE YEAKEL, Justice.

This case presents the question of how forthright a licensed child-placing agency must be with an unmarried, expectant mother who seeks its counsel prior to the birth of her child. The child’s mother, Corina Vela, is an exemplary young woman who made a mistake. The district court held that the law compels the compounding of her error, terminated her parental rights, and appointed appellee Mar-ywood managing conservator of her child. 1 Corina appeals the district-court judgment.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

In September 1997, Corina, then nineteen years of age and unmarried, learned…