S.C. v. State

Chief Justice DURRANT,

opinion of the Court:

INTRODUCTION

4 1 This case concerns competing petitions to adopt C.C., a five-year-old child. C.C. was removed from his home by the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS). After the juvenile court terminated his mother's parental rights, it faced two competing petitions to adopt him-one from his grandmother and the other from his foster parents. The court consolidated the competing petitions, granted procedural priority to the foster parents, and dismissed the grandmother's petition without first holding a hearing to consider the merits of her…