In Re Harshey

Appellants, Mr. and Mrs. William «I. Harshey, appeal from a judgment of the Probate Court of Cuyahoga County denying their petition for t'he adoption of Gary Harshey (hereinafter Gary).

Appellants had, on February 1, 1973, applied to the Cuyahoga County Welfare Department to adopt “a child.” Upon learning from a foster parent, Mrs. Kocsis, that one of her foster children, Gary Elledge, was available for adoption, the Harsheys petitioned to adopt Gary Harshey.

Mrs. Kocsis, a distant relative of the Harsheys was an independent licensed foster mother. She had adopted Gary’s older half-brother,…