Whitley v. Reeves

In this case Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Whitley filed petition in the Chancery Court, seeking to adopt Linda Verne Reeves, an infant two years old, who had been surrendered by her natural mother to, and was a ward of, the Department of Public Welfare of the State of Tennessee. The Commissioner of that Department, J. 0. McMahan, was joined as a defendant.

This was the second petition by Mr. and Mrs. Whitley to adopt this child. She had been placed with them in *171June 1950, under a contract by which they were to be paid $35 per month and were to keep her on a foster-home-care basis, subject to the…