Dougherty Adoption Case

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Allen M. Stearne,

This is an appeal from the decree of the orphans’ court of Delaware County refusing a petition for the adoption of a minor. The question is: Where the mother of an illegitimate child abandons it and surrenders its custody to a Children’s Aid Society, is the consent of such society necessary to an adoption? The learned orphan’s court judge decided that it was. This appeal followed.

The child sought to be adopted was the illegitimate child of an unmarried woman. Being unable to care for and support her child, the mother abandoned it. She placed it in the…