Smith Adoption Case

Opinion by

Me. Justice Boberts,

Tbe sole question for determination on this appeal from a decree of adoption entered by the Orphans Court of Westmoreland County, is whether the evidence supports the finding by the court below that the natural mother abandoned her child for a period of at least six months. If the evidence establishes abandonment, her consent to the adoption is unnecessary. If, however, the evidence is insufficient to support such a finding, the adoption may not be decreed without her consent. Adoption Act of April 4, 1925, P. L. 127, as amended, P.S. §§1-7 (1963).

The natural…